If 20 million peaceful Beijing citizens had been protesting in 1989, the Chinese government would probably have fallen. Unfortunately, it seems to have been 100,000 or so (0.5%).
If this forlorn minority had been armed, they would have been massacred even harder.
The 2nd amendment as a political right is just of no use in the face of a modern army.
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How do you say hayseed in German?:

One gun-control argument I’ve always had trouble understanding, never more so than now, is the idea that millions of citizens armed with pistols and rifles as a bulwark against tyranny might as well give those weapons up because they’re no match for a modern military with tanks and planes. Really? Since when is guerrilla warfare a sure loser, even against a sophisticated, well-equipped army? Until the Awakening changed the dynamic in Anbar province, Iraqi Sunnis were doing okay holding out against the world’s hyperpower. The Taliban crawls on to this day after 11 years of war in Afghanistan and may well end up back in control once the U.S. finally gives up and withdraws. The point of Petraeus-style counterinsurgency doctrine, I thought, is that even the most well-trained, well-equipped force can’t pacify a population through brute strength. It’s one thing to believe worrying about martial law here is silly, it’s another to believe that an attempt at martial law would inevitably succeed.
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Exactly.