how many of you CA residents plan to register your "assault rifles"

[Buzz cook]

59. Hey thanks for implying that I was a racist

It's usually conservatives that do that. Nice to know that other liberals can stoop that low as well. Maybe if I'd put "little man in a diaper" in quotes you wouldn't have had to clutch your pearls.

Your quote mining of Gandhi is a good case in point of poor argumentation.
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/india/indianindependence/indiannat/source3/

My personal faith is absolutely clear. I cannot intentionally hurt anything that lives, much less fellow human beings, even though they may do the greatest wrong to me and mine. Whilst, therefore, I hold the British rule to be a curse, I do not intend harm to a single Englishman or to any legitimate interest he may have in India.

snip

It is common cause that, however disorganised, and, for the time being, insignificant, it may be, the party of violence is gaining ground and making itself felt. Its end is the same as mine. But I am convinced that it cannot bring the desired relief to the dumb millions. And the conviction is growing deeper and deeper in me that nothing but unadulterated non-violence can check the organised violence of the British Government. Many think that non-violence is not an active force. My experience, limited though it undoubtedly is, shows that non-violence can be intensely active force. It is my purpose to set in motion that force as well against the organised violent force of the British rule as the unorganised violent force of the growing party of violence. To sit still would be to give rein to both the forces above mentioned. Having an unquestioning and immovable faith in the efficacy of non-violence, as I know it, it would be sinful on my part to wait any longer.

This non-violence will he expressed through civil disobedience, for the moment confined to the inmates of the Satyagraha Ashram, but ultimately designed to cover all those who choose to join the movement with its obvious limitations.

I know that in embarking on non-violence I shall be running what might fairly be termed a mad risk. But the victories of truth have never been won without risks, often of the gravest character. Conversion of a nation that has consciously or unconsciously preyed upon another, far more numerous, far more ancient and no less cultured than itself, is worth any amount of risk.

snip

I have no desire to cause you unnecessary embarrassment, or any at all, so far as I can help. If you think that there is any substance in my letter, and if you will care to discuss matters with me, and if to that end you would like me to postpone publication of this letter. I shall gladly refrain on receipt of a telegram to that effect soon after this reaches you. You will, however, do me the favour not to deflect me from my course unless you can see your way to conform to the substance of this letter.

This letter is not in any way intended as a threat but is a simple and sacred duty peremptory on a civil resister. Therefore I am having it specially delivered by a young English friend who believes in the Indian cause and is a full believer in non-violence, and whom Providence seems to have sent to me, as it were, for the very purpose.

I remain

Your sincerely friend

(Sd.) M.K. Gandhi

It is an amazing document the focus on economic justice gets right to the point of what is wrong with British rule.

Now disarmament.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Army_during_World_War_I
During WWI Indian sent 1 million soldiers overseas. After the war those units were demobilized.

http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/documents.php?nid=12

In the early 1920's, Indian men were permitted to attend the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and on commissioning they became King's Commissioned Officers with the same status as their British colleagues. Then an Indian Military College was opened at Dehra Dun, with graduates being granted King's Indian Commissioned Officers. A process of 'Indianisation' commenced in the 1930's, with the intention of gradually replacing British Officers with Indian personnel. The Second World War hastened this process and brought about the recruitment of a large number of Emergency Commissioned Officers, both British and British Indian. Even so, at the end of the war, the highest rank held by a British Indian was that of Brigadier.

The Indian soldiers were all volunteers, a situation that persisted throughout the Second World War. They were drawn from various races and religions, although there was a preference for the martial races from the Punjab. As a result of the Indian Mutiny, regiments did not consist of soldiers from only one race or religion, so Punjabi Mussalman (Muslims) served in the Sikh Regiment and Sikhs served in the Punjab Regiments.

India wasn't disarmed. What it lacked was independence to control its own fate including its military. There was no "gun grab" in India that the OP is so fearful of.

But thanks for posting the link. I haven't read the letter since the 70's and hopefully other people will read it as well.