Firearms

[Tiberius]

The common person who thinks that even that weapon, or a few guns, is going to protect him from a government that has an army at its call, is plain nuts. All that the government has to do is send a battalion of troops or a drone to that person's house, and it is adios.

We are not living in a French Revolution period where the people can be equally matched with the government in terms of firepower. The government will win, if it decides to turn against the people in that way.

I've covered this objection before. It relies solely on hardly any soldiers defecting to the side of the rebels, which quite frankly, never happens in large rebellions.

With military defections come greater firepower (as the military have access to greater firepower). Problem solved.

If you want a source, how about this list of prominent Syrian figures (members of government and the military, including several generals) during the Syrian civil war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Syrian_defectors