The monopoly on violence (being disarmed a hallmark of a dictatorship?)

[Jeroen]

Alex Jones says, in one of his videos, that being disarmed is a hallmark of a dictatorship.
I agree that a dictatorship would disarm its population. However, in most European countries the population is not allowed to own guns and the government has the monopoly on violence (police and military). Therefore I don’t think that being disarmed is, a priori , a hallmark of a dictatorship.

Or am I wrong? Is being disarmed a hallmark of a dictatorship?
I appreciate your thoughts.

[Pierre.Suave]

1. I would think so

it would seem to be necessary.

[scarletwoman]

2. Way too simplistic. Under Saddam, arms were freely available to Iraqis.

Nearly every household had at least an AK-47 (or Kalishnikov or whatever) or two. Personal firepower is ubiquitous throughout the Middle East, in countries that are hardly bastions of political freedom.

In fact, it is the "enlightened" governments of the West who impose the greatest restrictions on personal armaments for its citizens.

sw

[Jeroen]

3. Thanks!

[NickB79]

5. The Shiites were largely denied arms until the 1990's

After the first Gulf War, Saddam began pandering to the Shiite majority after seeing his military destroyed so easily by Coalition forces. Besides building mosques like mad and pretending to be more pious in front of the Iraqi Shiites, he began allowing them to arm themselves more widely. For the first 2/3 of his reign, the Shiites were largely disarmed by the ruling party of Iraq.

[scarletwoman]

8. Thanks for filling in some crucial details.

I knew I was over-generalizing, but I didn't have any hard data at hand.

sw

[Buck Laser]

4. Doesn't just about everybody have a gun in Iraq?

And we know what a free and progressive place THAT is!

[NickB79]

6. Well, they are beating back an invading army pretty effectively

Fighting for your homeland is one of the most basic freedoms a person has, isn't it? Without control of your own country, other freedoms are moot. Whether we agree with what government system and inumerated freedoms they put into power after they chase us out is beside the point.

[ThomWV]

7. Just About Everyone In The US Too

Last time I looked we had one shit load of guns in this country.