Reddit: "Police Officers: If ordered, would you confiscate firearms from law abiding citizens?"

[JohnnyEgo]

Ronin:

Few people, in any occupation, are willing to stand for principle over economic security, particularly when families are at stake. It is easy to take a stand when you have nothing at stake. It is an order of magnitude more difficult when you have your personal security or liberty at stake. It is exponentially* more difficult when your family or loved ones will suffer your decisions. That is the nature of humanity.

From a historical perspective, when local law enforcement cannot or will not comply with an order, entities such as the National Guard have been called in to take their place. The Insurrection Act provides an exception to Posse Comitatus that permits the National Guard to engage in law enforcement action under command of the state Governor.

To not understand the mechanisms, both of human nature and of law, by which people can be compelled to do something they might otherwise find morally repugnant, is a mark of ignorance or immaturity.





* As in, small changes along the X axis (family involvement) produce large changes in the Y axis (difficulty), quickly forming a vertical asymptote wherein minimal changes on the X axis drive the Y axis value towards infinity. Also as in: You should have paid more attention in math and/or I was the kind of kid you wanted to beat up in high school.