06-18-08, 05:43 PM
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#23
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Rear Admiral 
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Originally Posted by August
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Originally Posted by mrbeast
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Originally Posted by SUBMAN1
Hardly. What do you think? With all the guns America buys around here that Americans would be relying on 100 year old artifacts? Come on already! America is and has been for ages the worlds most heavily armed society. Most Americans probably had better rifles than the standard issue for the Japanese army at the time!
-S
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Japan never invaded the US due to logistical problems and the small problem of the USN, USMC and US Army. Hawaii wasn't a viable target for invasion either as it was within range of US bombers and far from any Japanese held territory; the supply lines would have been far too long and vulnerable for any effective occupation to take place. The raid on Pearl was cut short by Nagumo partly due to his concerns over the amount of fuel they had left to get back to Japanese controlled waters, imagine the amounts needed to sustain an invasion!
I doubt that they were scared off because there were high levels of gun ownership in the US. Certainly in planning that would be a consideration, but a motly crew of civilians toting an assortment of hunting rifles, pistols etc would not have been much of a match for a trained and disciplined army. The other point to add is that most countries during the war raised some form of civilian defence force, e.g. the Home Guard in the UK; what were they if not armed civilians? There has never been any suggestion that the Germans found that this fact made Britain anymore daunting a prospect to attack. |
I think both of you are right imo. I think having to deal with a well armed and hostile populace was just one more reason for them not to attempt an invasion. Government rarely make such momentus decisions based on a single consideration. Life is way more complicated than that. |
I think this says it all:
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...Bob had told us that he’d been aboard the USS Constellation—he remembered the year as 1960—when he had been part of joint maneuvers conducted with what were by then called the Japanese Defense Forces. Over dinner and drinks, with Japanese and American naval officers talking shop, many of the WWII veterans, the question had come up, why didn’t the Japanese invade what they must have recognized as the wide open West Coast of the United States at the beginning of that war?
The officer had replied that his country was well aware that there was a high density of armed citizenry in America, even state championships for private citizens in the use of military rifles, and that the Japanese were not fools to set foot in such quicksand. Menard, even then a man committed to Second Amendment rights, naturally kept a vivid memory of the conversation....
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-S
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Last edited by SUBMAN1; 06-18-08 at 06:05 PM.
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