Can Guns Save Us from a Tyrannical Goverment Taking Over?

  So, now that we've had this debate on whether guns save lives -- meaning, do they stop criminals -- can we get back to the question of whether guns save countries in this age and time? I mean, is it true that private ownership of guns is a protection against one's government? If government starts to get tyrannical, can the private citizens of the 21st Century pull their guns out of the closet and save the nation?

   Do guns save nations?

   I think if we are going to say they do, we should be able to cite a few examples. Googling, I found none. But, that doesn't mean they don't exist. Help me. Tell me about them.

   The gun enthusiast is quick to point out any instance in which he believes government took away guns, and that nation then sank into tyranny and lost its freedoms. But, if there are examples of where the lack of privately owned guns preceded the death of a free nation, are there also examples of when privately-owned guns were used to ward off a dictatorship?

   Like I say, I'm not saying they don't exist; I'm just saying I'm not finding any. Yes, I did find one report, but a study of it suggests it probably is incorrect. Says a PBS article, "SS Oberst Hermann Bohme's 1943 memorandum warned that an invasion of Switzerland would be too costly because every man was armed and trained to shoot."

   So, I looked up the text to Bohme's 1943 memorandum and word searched it (it is about 200 pages long), typing in the word "Swiss." I didn't find anything of the sort about the German SS backing down because "every man was armed and trained to shoot." It might be in there, but I couldn't find it. 

  In fact, the opposite appears to be true. Instead of Hitler fearing the Swiss were too well armed, the German SS apparently felt the Swiss would not present an armed challenge. Says an entry in Wikipedia: "Menges (Captain Otto-Wilhelm Kurt von Menges) noted in his plan that Swiss resistance was unlikely and that a nonviolent Anshluss (union with Switzerland) was the most likely result. With 'the current political situation in Switzerland,' he wrote, 'it might accede to ultimatum demands in a peaceful manner, so that after a warlike border crossing a rapid transition to a peaceful invasion must be assured.' "

  This is not 1776. Back then, there was no standing army. When a war broke out, soldiers would gather, bringing their own guns because the government didn't have an arsenal of guns. This is now 2023. Personal rifles are no match for the tanks and missiles of our day.

   Not only am I not aware of any example of citizens with their guns saving a nation from losing its freedom, I wonder if it is even possible.