# Internment: Justified use of guns by citizens against the government? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 21, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916 "2013-01-21T16:49:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/41 "2013-01-22T01:27:57Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > Actually, the U.S. government did a good sales job for their internment camps. First, they gave the Japanese the impression that the internment would be for a short time period. Secondly, they emphasized that people were upset over Pearl Harbor so actually they were in danger of being assaulted by the population at large. Third, culturally the Japanese have always been respectful of authority. I also believe they gave some of the Japanese the option of returning to Japan rather than going to the internment camps which means while it may have been Hobson’s choice: the internment camp or being sent to a country the United States was entering into war with, they did at least have an alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Oak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gary\_Oak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Oak)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/42 "2013-01-22T11:27:27Z")
During WW2, the japanese was scared to invade Australia since many houses had gun’s back then… but too bad we become to sheep to government lately ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/43 "2013-01-22T12:01:44Z")
> [@Gary\_Oak](#): > > During WW2, the japanese was scared to invade Australia since many houses had gun’s back then… :rolleyes: Yeah, I’m sure that a bunch of civilians with guns just _terrified_ the notoriously shy and timid WWII Japanese military. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/44 "2013-01-22T12:15:41Z")
> [@Gary\_Oak](#): > > During WW2, the japanese was scared to invade Australia since many houses had gun’s back then… but too bad we become to sheep to government lately Really? Are you sure it wasn’t because there were no resources they needed in Australia? Because all the other countries they invade had oil. in other words: Cite? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/45 "2013-01-22T13:38:31Z")
> [@Gary\_Oak](#): > > During WW2, the japanese was scared to invade Australia since many houses had gun’s back then… but too bad we become to sheep to government lately Interesting idea. Maybe it should be it’s own thread so that it doesn’t derail this one. I don’t think it has anything to do with the internment of the Japanese in America. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/46 "2013-01-22T13:45:56Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Interesting idea. Maybe it should be it’s own thread so that it doesn’t derail this one. I don’t think it has anything to do with the internment of the Japanese in America. He meant that Japanese-Americans were afraid to invade Australia. Duh! ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/47 "2013-01-22T13:48:35Z")
> [@Gary\_Oak](#): > > During WW2, the japanese was scared to invade Australia since many houses had gun’s back then… but too bad we become to sheep to government lately Oh. And here I thought that it was due to the failure of the Japanese Army on the Kokada Trail and thee IJN at Coral Sea?:dubious::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/48 "2013-01-22T14:34:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Internment: Justified use of guns by citizens against the government? Justified by who? By the US Government? No, it wouldn’t have been. By the Japanese being interned? Sure, they didn’t know what the outcome would be (though it was a good guess that the US government wouldn’t be building death camps for women and children, especially since a number of the Japanese American males were actually in the army fighting over in Germany). However, as pointed out, being justified would be cold comfort when those who used their guns were killed or captured by the government, as they surely would have been since the Japanese were a huge minority in the US…far less than the Jews were in Germany. > [@](#): > > It is interesting that the US was putting Japanese in camps at the same time Germany was implementing their ultimate solution. Certainly the Jews would be justified in using guns to prevent their relocation since we know they were going to be put to death. It seems that the Japanese might have that same justification since it would be unknown what fate ultimately awaited them at their camp. Well, I’d say that the Jews had a bit better justification, since the German government AND the people had been ramping up the hostility factor for some time…and it’s not like there wasn’t a huge history of slaughter and reprisal against Jews in Germany as well as the rest of Europe. Probably why the Germans went out of their way to ensure that the Jews WERE fully disarmed. That said, as noted earlier, yes the Japanese would have been justified (to themselves) by using guns against the government. In hindsight it obviously would have been a bad call, and they wouldn’t have been justified to either the government or to many other US citizens, but justification isn’t about pleasing everyone. To the British, the colonials were not justified in taking up arms against the Empire, after all. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/49 "2013-01-22T15:24:19Z")
> [@Gary\_Oak](#): > > During WW2, the japanese was scared to invade Australia since many houses had gun’s back then… but too bad we become to sheep to government lately Really? I heard it was because of a magic rock. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/50 "2013-01-23T00:29:32Z")
Ayers Rock? How did _that_ keep away the Japanese? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/51 "2013-01-23T00:38:45Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > I heard it was because of a magic rock. > [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > [Ayers Rock?](http://www.rockytravel.net/en/blog/2011/05/28/74-the-magic-of-ayers-rock-/) How did _that_ keep away the Japanese? Magic! After all, the Japanese didn’t invade, right? In fact it’s been over 60 years and they still haven’t invaded! That’s proof that it works! ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/52 "2013-01-23T00:59:58Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That’s proof that it works! Keeps tigers and elephants away, too! [sub]It’s just a shame it can’t keep us bloody American tourists away…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/53 "2013-01-23T02:01:19Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I think you are comparing applies to oranges. The Japanese internment camps however degrading and uncomfortable simply were not death camps which you acknowledge in your premise. While the governments actions were heinous, they did not rise to level in which armed resistance was justified, if for no other reason than that such action which could not be successful would only further endanger the American Japanese community. 1. In this context, the distinction between a death camp and an internment camp is, in practice, a distinction between _what is known to the victim in advance_ as being one or the other. In this, the two cases are not distinguishable; the Nazis claimed to be merely “relocating” the Jews. 2. By this standard, the American Revolution, sparked by grievances that are downright trivial by comparison, must be considered illegitimate. Do you accept this conclusion, or do you wish to walk back your argument (logically, you don’t have a third option)? Or course, the above arguments are directed to morality, not prudence, which (as also noted on this thread) is a separate issue. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/54 "2013-01-23T02:02:26Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Magic! > > After all, the Japanese didn’t invade, right? In fact it’s been over 60 years and they still haven’t invaded! That’s proof that it works! Lisa, I want to buy Ayers Rock… ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916/55 "2013-01-24T03:23:32Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Back in 1942 over 100,000 Japanese were relocated from their homes into camps in the [Japanese American internment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment). Would they have been justified in using their guns to resist relocation? Yes. If someone tries to imprison me, without trial, somebody’s going to get shot. Probably just me, but not for lack of trying. I’ll go to my grave convinced of my righteousness. But this isn’t how governments do things. They sneak up on it through incrementalism, and support it with lies and fear. Nobody woke up one morning and saw a headline “All Jews must get on the cattle cars today.” They sneak up on it, justify their actions with propaganda, use fear on the populace, and villify the victims. The natural human tendency is to avoid violence. So by the time you think about fighting back, you’re the bad guy in the eyes of almost everybody else, it’s a thousand to one, and it’s too late. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internment-justified-use-of-guns-by-citizens-against-the-government/647916.md?page=2)