Empowering Citizens: The Case for Private Ownership of

Atomic Weapons
By Luka Rodriguez
March 21, 2024

In a world full of geopolitical tensions and the ever looming threat of mass conflict, the

idea of private citizens owning nuclear weapons may seem like a distressing and unwelcome

proposition. However, upon an in depth review, it starts to become apparent that the legality

concerning ownership of atomic ordnance by responsible citizens may have potential benefits

that merit deeper consideration. This paper explores the rationale behind granting such rights, as

well as the precautions that would be necessary to ensure appropriate usage.

Today's political agenda is full of targeted blame and exasperated calls to action, most of

which regarding certain controversial subjects such as human rights, foreign affairs, and internal

conflict. Politicians take advantage of the widespread dismay regarding the aforementioned

subjects to support some erroneous narrative that necessitates the passing or emendation of

some unrelated legislation that ends up further stripping away the rights of the average person.

Lately, this has been prevalent regarding the ownership of firearms, a right assured never to be

encroached on, yet is closer than ever to being completely violated. There are many arguments

on either side regarding ownership of weapons in general, as well as atomic and other

destructive devices, but without the historical context they can be confusing.

Nuclear Armaments are a fairly new technology, as the first atomic weapon, named

gadget, was detonated in July of 1945 in Los Alamos NM mere weeks before the bombing of

nagasaki japan in retaliation for their bombing of pearl harbor. This project was kept hidden for

months and was reported as an unintentional munitions explosion, this is until two 20 kiloton

bombs, fat man and little boy, were dropped over japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This

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led to a worldwide arms race as each nation developed their own arsenal of nuclear warheads in

fear of escalation into global thermonuclear war. These changes marked a paradigm shift in

warfare as a whole, with consequences much more devastating than ever. Nowadays, the threat

of global nuclear war isn't as much of a common fear as technology has progressed to a point

where if any nation were to launch any kind of atomic weapon, there would be mutually assured

destruction of everyone on the planet. This caused a huge change in the politics behind atomic

weaponry, namely the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as well as various disarmament

agreements. Nuclear power has become more relevant as the world looks for cleaner energy

sources to replace fossil fuels, though many fear nuclear energy due to the infamous Chernobyl

disaster. In April 1986 there was an explosion of No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power

Plant in the north of the Ukrainian SSR caused by a lower power systems test of said reactor. To

this day the surrounding area reminds uninhabitable, this caused widespread fear and a

distressing concept to most of the general public, even though out of the 667 nuclear power

plants that have ever existed, only 15 have ever had any type of meltdown, and out of those, the

only ones that resulted in anything more then a few deaths and property damage are Three Mile

Island (TMI), Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Understanding the ways our society has been

changed by the advent of atomic weapons provides pivotal insights of the challenges and

intricacies associated with any kind of ownership of atomic weapons.

Central to the argument for the allowance of citizens to possess atomic weapons is the

principle of individual rights and liberties. The second amendment in the Constitution of the

United States of America is as follows: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the

security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

This amendment was created for a couple of reasons, the main one being so citizens could fight

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back against a tyrannical government and ensure that they couldn't be oppressed. This

amendment put America as a country ahead of others at the time and played a huge role in

establishing the freedom it offered, in the words of James Madison, the father of the Second

Amendment: “Americans [have] the right and advantage of being armed – unlike citizens of

other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” Lastly, the second

amendment made America stronger as a whole, allowing the people to directly fight back

against threats along with the government. Many people argue that the second amendment only

applies to items such as semi automatic rifles, handguns, and shotguns, but back when this

amendment was passed, muskets and black powder pistols were considered military grade

equipment, these weapons were used to penetrate the armor that existed at the time. In today's

world, having even a rocket launcher would do almost nothing against the weapons and

technology possessed by even the local police force, let alone the entire US military, and such

rocket launchers would be the equivalent of the muskets used back then. The only weapon one

could possess to have any bargaining power against a tyrannical government with an army at its

command would be nuclear warheads, the only type of weapon that has ever caused a peace

agreement to be made in mere hours. Another argument against owning anything more powerful

than can already be legally owned is that it is unnecessary to protect oneself, however, when

this amendment was passed, almost every father or husband owned some sort of firearm to

themselves and their communities from existential dangers, including those posed by hostile

governments or terrorist organizations. And although we are not in active war time at this

moment, with tensions rising the way they are, that could change very quickly. Granting citizens

the means to defend themselves with atomic weapons, reinforces the principle of

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self-determination and empowers people to safeguard their own security without reliance on the

government

The concept of deterrence is the very reason the possession of nuclear weapons

is as powerful as it is. Peace through superior firepower has been the thought behind America's

$766 billion defense budget, no one dares to go to war with a country with such powerful

weapons as the US. This logic easily extends to nuclear weapons; Having the capability to wipe

entire continents off the face of the earth with a single bomb serves as an extremely effective

deterrent against any act of aggression by raising the potential costs of hostile action to be much

greater than any entity in their right mind would be willing to pay. Furthermore, responsible

citizens armed with such a means of destruction combined with an already powerful

government would greatly contribute to both local and global stability acting as yet another

deterrence to an adversary seeking to initiate a conflict. Decentralization of deterrence

capabilities further helps to eliminate any preemption, something that in the past has been a

catalyst of conflict. Having multiple decentralized individuals each with ownership of atomic

weapons further dissuades aggressors from attacking in fear of the aforementioned mutually

assured destruction, the more weapons under one nation the harder it is to neutralize them all at

once meaning a retaliatory strike would be inevitable.

As scary as a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of a terrorist organization or some

entity wishing harm on others, something of the sort would be almost impossible. The cheapest

US Nuclear warhead would be the LGM-30 Minuteman III, with a price of $33.5 million

apiece, and that is just for the missile itself, the actual warhead could cost anything from another

$15 million or more, and to fire such an ICBM millions more are needed for storage, missile

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silos, guidance systems, and other equipment. To be able to attain any type of atomic weapon it

would take huge organizations with many people and a lot of training, and actually storing or

launching would cost even more, and manufacturing such items is almost out of the question,

these systems have taken dozens of years, millions of scientists and trillions of dollars to get

where they are today.

While the idea of ordinary citizens having access to nuclear armaments may initially

arouse unease, a comprehensive examination shows merits that may warrant further

consideration. By upholding constitutional rights, promoting deterrence, and implementing

rigorous regulation, the ownership of nuclear weapons by responsible citizens can prove to be

an effective means of further enhancing international security and cultivating a more stable

world order. That being said, such a large change would necessitate careful deliberation along

with international understanding as well as a commitment to ensure the safe and responsible

usage of these rights to further global security.

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