This is a troubling subject.
I urge all of you to remember that these are open forums, and it may behoove us to be cautious of our words here: It would be prudent to assume they are monitored.
It is well and good to speak of dying in a hail of gunfire to protect your arms. I admire the sentiment, if not the effect. It is also good to point out that a an armed revolution no longer takes the form of pitched battles... we have long since passed the point where a citizen militia can hold its own in the field against the military forces of a nation-state.
The first and most important form of a revolution must be a peaceful one; a revolution of the ballot box. I know that the odds don't look good for this, these days, but it MUST be tried. It ill becomes us to turn too quickly to our arms as the means.
Here's a purely hypothetical exercise for you, and in no way do I advocate this. It is illegal. I merely present an interesting idea:
In the event that peaceful means are exhausted, and it appears there is no halting the oncoming totalitarianism, I maintain that there are different ways to wage a revolutionary war than visible defiance and pointless, violent death. The mainstay of modern guerrilla warfare is subtlety and patience. This is a largely urbanized nation, and the battlegrounds, such as they are, will be urban in such a conflict. I disagree that pistols and such are useless here. On the contrary, the concealable weapon provides a great advantage. It allows for surprise on the attack, and disappearance on the retreat. I detest "terrorism" as much as any man... war against civilians is NOT the way, not for anyone, for any cause. But there is a place for similar tactics in urban guerrilla warfare, against targets more appropriate to patriots... not fanatics and murderers. Infrastructure, command & control, communications, government/military installations, logistics... these are the targets that would be effective, in the event of such guerrilla warfare. And it would take years, if, indeed, results could ever be produced. And the attrition rate for the revolutionaries would be terrible. But, unlike the noble defiance of shouting "From my cold dead hands!" as the young men with badges and body armor burst through your door, the way I have described has at least a chance.
I do not in any way claim to encourage armed resistance to a lawful government, of course. The above is merely a hypothetical situation, for intellectual stimulation. I do not advocate this course.
:banghead:
