RE: Come and Take It!
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The purpose of licenses and permits aren't to pay governments for access... the purpose is to prove competency.
You are conflating licenses with certificates. A certificate is usually a prerequisite for a license, I am aware, but licenses expire; certificates don't. I don't need to prove I know how to hunt (or even how to shoot straight) in order to get a hunting license. All I needed to do was pass a safety/regulation exam and pay a small fee.
Ideally you would want a licensed electrician
To hire, yes. But I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in another house built by one; electricians and electrical engineers understand the principles well enough to know what they can get away with doing, regardless of code. Ask any building inspector what sorts of illegal shit they've seen licensed electricians do in their own houses... I'll wait.
Licenses aren't a revenue stream
Yes, they are. Fees that pay for hunting licenses and game permits support state-funded wildlife conservation efforts. Likewise, public transportation infrastructure is paid for by drivers' license fees, vehicle registration fees, and petrol taxes.
The way to resist governments isn't with firearms - it's with collective action.
"Коллективные действия"? Пффффт ХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХАХА!!!
representatives in that will look after your interests to make actual meaningful change.
Right... and if the work of Jordan Shanks-Markovina is anything to go by, those are rare, even in Australia. People who go into politics do so to make money, and they get elected on empty platitudes and false promises; Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the ultimate example of that.
There is a whole ecosystem in the United States to keep people divided, to keep people scared...
Yes, and literally every single organisation that you have cited as a source thus far is part of that ecosystem. Throughout this entire discussion, you've been projecting your own propaganda-induced fear and paranoia onto us. I do not fear criminals precisely because I am armed. Almost everyone in my neighbourhood is... and so far, the only house that has been broken into has been one with no guns in it.
Remember, division is only one layer of propaganda, its ultimate purpose is demoralisation, and that's what makes it so evil.
I was a loyal Soviet citizen until the age of twenty. What that meant was to say what you were supposed to say, read what you were permitted to read, vote the way you were told to vote, and at the same time, to know it was all a lie. - Natan Sharanskii
I think you're right... but in the situation of obtaining your driver's license... I don't think you get a certificate first. Apologies if I don't have the semantics right... but my point was that you often have to prove something in order to be allowed to do it.
In the example of your hunting license, you had to prove that you knew some rules on safety before you're allowed to hunt.
My understanding is that in some states of the USA, you can purchase a high-powered firearm and ammunition at a gun show, with cash, and take it home the same day without anyone knowing you have it nor having to prove to an expert that you know how to use it safely.
If I'm trying to solve the problem of the high number of school shootings in the USA, that might be a scenario to tackle. You're not allowed to drive a car in the USA without proving to an expert that you can, I don't see any reason a high-powered weapon should be all that different.
Sorry, I should have said that licenses don't exist for the sole purpose of only being a revenue stream.
Politicians in the UK and Australia and many countries in Europe don't go into politics to make money... the public service is usually paid lower than corporate pay. This does often mean that the only people who can afford to go into politics are already independently wealthy or they are chasing power... but all that aside... the use of deadly force by the people shouldn't be the only way to make change. The people change governments in many countries without a deadly coup all the time.
In the case of dictatorships, yes, violence might be necessary, but hopefully a politically engaged population can prevent a dictatorship from occurring.
My intention wasn't to project my fears onto you.
My intention was to that I think the idea of banning books and weed is stupid, but the idea of banning guns is far more complex, and a problem like US school shootings can't be solved if people are against even discussing changes in firearm ownership.
You don't fear criminals because you are armed... but the majority of parents in the US fear for their children's safety in school. That is not usual in developed countries and I'd love for the US to try something to address that.