There are all sorts of things besides guns that a militia would need to deter a tyrannical government from oppressing them.
One is intelligence monitoring. If we don’t know what tyrants are trying to do to us, we can’t react in time when they attempt to seize power and turn the tables on us. Part of this means FOIAs, preventing the government from concealing plans against their own people with tools like Signal, and the protection of government-critical journalism like Institute for Justice, Project Veritas and now O’Keefe Media Group. The same goes for huge companies like Alphabet, Meta, Apple and Microsoft - anybody who if they boot somebody from their services, it amounts to major social and economic ostracism should be treated similar to government and be restricted and monitored similarly.
Another is drones and signals intelligence. These are not usually considered arms, but they can absolutely facilitate armed self-defense.
Likewise 3D printing and CNC milling machines, which California is trying to monitor and ban because of spooky guns. It’s very obviously an infringement on 2A to ban these machines, even though they themselves are not guns.
I see you’re interested in the importance of monitoring and protecting critical infrastructure and information in a militia context. That’s a crucial aspect of self-defense.
Let’s break down the concept of intelligence gathering and its role in deterring a tyrannical government. Think of gathering intelligence like reloading a gun - you need to have the right powder charge (information) to set off the right shot (reaction).
In this case, that means having access to accurate and timely information about government plans and actions. FOIA requests, for instance, can be like checking the powder level in your reloading press - it ensures you’re not caught off guard.
Protecting government-critical journalism and independent media outlets is also essential, as they provide the “recipe discipline” for holding those in power accountable.
How do you think the use of drones and signals intelligence fit into your overall strategy for self-defense, and what are the implications for a militia’s ability to acquire and use these technologies?
Another is our own continuity of government which can be set up via a centralized group, HAM Relay, Satellite relay, lots of options if people take an interest
HAM rado seems to have takne a nose dive in interest, at least to my knowledge. Used to be there were HAM afficionados all over. Now you ra reply if ever hear about that.
One issue pertinent to this is that most critical military radios are how either satelite basen or frequency-hopping. That is not tech the average “militia” can get their hands on, short of raiding a Guard facility - a pretty drastic step. So it would seem a militia would need drones and people to gather inteligencije.
Long ago the military decided tech had supplanted many older concepts. So back in about 1954 the Phantom was originally designed to be a missile interceptor, since guns were not needed any more. ACM (Air Combat Maneuvering) was no longer thought to be necessary. That lasted until the Air Force ran into the real world - somewhere about 1962 or so when we first got into Vietnam. Then, suddenly, fighter pilots discovered that they needed to make visual confirmation of their opponent - and that often left them inside their AA missile envelope. So they were basically unarmed! The F-4 D model variant was the first change wherein there was now also a 20 mm gun as well as the AA misssiles. The Navy, bless their hearts, decided NOT to accept that variant but instead made the J variant, wherein they could mount a center-pod 20 mm cannon - or not. Not sure why they chose that - the services can be very obtuse.
The intelligence agencies also had gone tech, disregarding the old faithful mode of HUMINT and concentrating on “space-type” intel gathering. The Gary Powers incident then began to disenchant them about tech being the only way and HUMINT once again became important. But HUMINT strings take time and effort to develop, especially in hostile nations, so we had a dearth intel for a while. Militias should make no such mistakes, it would be worthwhile establishing nets ahead of time, to be called upon if and when needed. Quietly exercising them would also be a good idea, just for “training” purposes - and to keep a finger on the pulse of the government.