I know where this is going: the right of corporate persons to bear arms.

[azul]

The right of international corporations, with operations in the US, to arm themselves with mercenary or robotic armies and weapons, and defend their property and selves against boycotts and strikes and disparagement? What's to stop them now, now that the supreme court has raised the corporate rights over the land?

If wealth can control free speech by shutting out monetarily poor positions with its instruments of broadcasting, so can the right to bear arms be made ridiculous by having unlimited weapons in the clutches of businesses, but only non-automatic small arms in the hands of real people.

Money not only talks, it shoots too?

[Ozymanithrax]

1. If they have the right of free speech, they can also bear arms to defend that right.

Blackwater-Xe, defenders of the 2nd amendment.

Coming to a town near you.

[Ken Burch]

2. Well...it's probably actually gonna mean the right of their secretaries to bear arms FOR them.

Which means CEO's damn well BETTER remember "Administrative Professionals Day".

[madrchsod]

3. some people are more equal than others...

it would be interesting if we had the same rights and privileges as corporations do......

[MadHound]

4. Umm they've had that right for awhile,

They just haven't felt the need to display the naked aggression for awhile.

Check out what the Pinkerton folks did out in Colorado back in the day.

[cliffordu]

10. Yep. Exactly.

[azul]

15. Or when India was conquered and occupied by a British corporation.

England had to come to the rescue of the occupiers when the people revolted.

[harun]

5. Already started, people just don't see it yet.

[Mr Rabble]

6. Very astute analysis.

I totally agree with this assessment.
Bringing back the Pinkertons to quell domestic disturbances.

[Hannah Bell]

7. there's something i hadn't considered.

[Greyhound]

8. Nothing new, we've always tolerated Big Money arming itself.

Hell, we tolerated Big Money attempting a military coup in the 30's and not one of them was ever even tried.

When trying to imagine future America, I think of Pinochet's Chile with a Disney veneer.

[DJ13]

9. I've seen that before......

[guitar man]

11. Well if that's the case

We better keep ours cleaned, oiled and ready to go

[northofdenali]

12. They already do.

Blackwater.

[katandmoon]

13. Paranoia sure strikes deep in the gun world.

[azul]

17. Yes, they can be played like a harp

by devils, or angels?

[proteus_lives]

24. Republicans have always played gun-control Democrats like a harp.

Or puppets.

[azul]

28. Then turn-about's fair play. nt

[TPaine7]

14. Too Late...

Corporations had the right to keep and bear arms in NOLA while human beings were being disarmed by goons:

Katrina momentarily peeled back the veil on Financial Elitism. In the horrific circumstances following the
storm, police deserted their posts. Some were filmed apparently looting in uniform.58 The government took
decisive action:

At the orders of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the New Orleans Police, the National
Guard, the Oklahoma National Guard, and U.S. Marshals have begun breaking into
homes at gunpoint, confiscating their lawfully-owned firearms, and evicting the residents.
“No one is allowed to be armed. We're going to take all the guns,” says P. Edwin
Compass III, the superintendent of police.59

Mr. Compass, the police superintendent, said that after a week of near anarchy in the city,
no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns, or other firearms
of any kind. “Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons,” he said. 60

Under color of law, officials took personal property at gunpoint—a clear violation of the Fourth
Amendment. Louisiana‟s Constitution received similar contempt:

Louisiana statutory law does allow some restrictions on firearms during extraordinary
conditions. One statute says that after the Governor proclaims a state of emergency (as
Governor Blanco has done), “the chief law enforcement officer of the political
subdivision affected by the proclamation may...promulgate orders...regulating and
controlling the possession, storage, display, sale, transport and use of firearms, other
dangerous weapons and ammunition.” But the statute does not, and could not, supersede
the Louisiana Constitution, which declares that “The right of each citizen to keep and
bear arms shall not be abridged, but this provision shall not prevent the passage of laws to
prohibit the carrying of weapons concealed on the person.”

The power of “regulating and controlling” is not the same as the power of “prohibiting
and controlling.” The emergency statute actually draws this distinction in its language,
which refers to “prohibiting” price-gouging, sale of alcohol, and curfew violations, but
only to “regulating and controlling” firearms. Accordingly, the police superintendent's
order “prohibiting” firearms possession is beyond his lawful authority. It is an illegal
order.61

From the gun control perspective, ordinary people should be disarmed in emergencies. So Mayor Nagin—
who, “incoherent and weeping,” “fled to Baton Rouge”—courageously defied the highest legal authority.62
He was not so bold, however, as to defy his fellow Elite:

That order apparently does not apply to the hundreds of security guards
whom businesses and some wealthy individuals have hired to protect their property. The
guards, who are civilians working for private security firms like Blackwater, are openly
carrying M-16s and other assault rifles.

Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards but that the police had no plans
to make them give up their weapons. 63

If you are rich and fear for you property, your employees may carry fully automatic (true) assault weapons;
your property rights will be respected. If you are “average” and you fear that roving gangs may want to
entertain themselves with your wife and children, you are out of luck. The Constitutions, federal and state,
are impotent. This is an emergency!

Source (and to see the footnotes to reputable sources like the NY Times): obamaonsecond.com

[beevul]

16. Now you've done it...

It is unfair to cloud the issue with facts, TPaine7.

:rofl:

[TPaine7]

20. *hangs head in shame*

I meant no harm.

Honest.

[beevul]

22. Double plus goodthink...

Your chocolate ration is hereby increased from 8 bars a week, to 6. :rofl:

[TPaine7]

25. With your permission and kind indulgence,

6 is not quite twice 8.

I humbly request my rations be increased all the way to 4.

[beevul]

26. ROFL. n/t

[nemo137]

18. Even if you assume a near-total merger of state and corporate power, this makes no sense.

Why would corporations want to take on the risk themselves? Early organizing attempts were put down by state militias or deputized posses as often as by pinkertons.

[azul]

19. It was a battle of rights, capital vs labor.

Now the legal battle seems to be won. The risk is gone.

[nemo137]

21. No, the risk is still there.

Why would capital risk resources building up a private army, especially if it has the power of the state at its back? Where's the profit in that? Does it really benefit them to have their guys go in and crack skulls, rather than letting the police do it?

[azul]

27. The share-holders want stability.

People may be able to vote out a mayor or police chief, and that just might disrupt business.

There are still some constraints on the police and army.

[nemo137]

30. But over all, the money would be better spent on other things.

It is more profitable to get the state to shoulder the burden of keeping the proles in line than to arm a private force. It's as simple as that. There may come a time when that changes, and it's more profitable to run your own armed force, but I really don't see that happening any time soon.

[Marr]

23. Law has never applied to wealth in this country.

I think you'll find that wealthy corporations have had the "right" to rob and even kill people for a very long time, in that they are almost never held accountable in any meaningful way. And why would they be? Our government is really little more than Corporate America's brute squad.

[Akoto]

29. Are you a fan of Shadowrun, by any chance? n/t

[Snazzy]

31. what rights do corporations have that you, mr./ms. human-being don't

I'd expect that list is growing if we spent some time thinking about it.

[AllyCat]

32. Robocop. Not just a movie anymore