Quote Originally Posted by Solanine View Post
A dictator could take control because of everybody having a gun. Him and his supporters just have to murder the leaders and BAM! Chaos. Who unites the colony? The dictator.
Pre determined battle stations is great but if you already have people manning the perimeter eg the guardians you have greater warning + a well trained force to repel at least the first few waves.
By that time the citizens are armed with more substantial fire arms than the handguns I suggested were allowed for defence of ones person.
As usual you see the best in people Reaper, which is by no means a fault. But especially when your survival is on the line people tend to be paranoid, territorial etc.
What happens the first time a community who is hard pushed for food strays into a neighbouring communities foraging grounds and gets caught?
Within the communities bonds would be strong as seen in the tower but I'm talking inter-community disputes and conflicts.
As far as Europe's shootings go I can't think of a Major one in Britain since Raoul Moat. And that was three people killed. Just as a comparison in America there were 8775 murders using firearms (2011). The total for the UK in 2006? 49. When you even out our populations (Britain is about a sixth of your population) Britain is 294 killings to your 8775. Other European countries cannot be lumped together as each one has slightly different firearms policies. Anyway, this is not a firearms thread although if you want to start that discussion hit me up! I can't comment as to the people of texas as I haven't ever been there.
there are no "leaders" per se, the representatives don't make the decisions, they relay the will of the people and the majority rules. they wouldn't be disparate communities of people walled off from each other, they would commune together and work together for the colony, the only differrence is that one man would be elected to represent so many people to the colony, as a means of maintaining order.

one final thing on guns (which are very relevant to the end of the world), more people may be shot in the US, but home invasions are much higher in the UK. here, if a man comes in my home by force, i can shoot him, in the UK you can be charged with murder for killing an intruder in your own home. you also look at the number of murders, but what you don't look at is defensive gun use, which some estimates put as high as 2.5 million per year. that's people using guns to defend their lives, even if it's something as simple as drawing down (most defensive gun uses never involve firing a gun and so go unreported).