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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
One would think that as a loyal party member, you wouldn't be arrested.....and once arrested, you could conceivably be called a dissident? Call it a glaring error all you like, the fact still remains that 20 million dissidents were killed after gun control was established. Of course, you're free to ignore or disavow any set of numbers at your choosing.
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I don't think your logic holds up here. A "dissident" is "one who disagrees" (dictionary.com definition), and a loyal party member would by definition wouldn't disagree. In the 1930's Soviet Union (the height of the purges), the party members arrested were not aggitating for change. The accusations were for being part of various vast conspiracies linked to various higher-ups who were on their way out. To call the people arrested "dissidents" is just plain old wrong and is my basic problem with their inclusion in this list. The majority of the people arrested had the right to own guns, although they may or may not have exercised it. There are also numerous anecdotes of armed folks being arrested, General Zhukov for one. I'm sorry, but you've got a square peg and a round hole here. The folks arrested weren't dissidents (although the survivors may have been years later [and even then probably not]), and they were more likely to be armed than those not arrested.
I wish I had more to add to this thread, but others have made my arguement for me and probably said it better than I could hope to. Sorry for the threadjack, but I've spent the last 16 years studying this particular topic (as an amature). Please resume your previously scheduled debate.