Sadly, the only thing you can really count upon is yourself and your loved ones.
Government cannot protect you.
Police cannot protect you.
Your personal firearms can protect you.
The sobering truth: whether Iraq or the USA, some semblance of civilization or total anarchy can lie in the hands of a few hoodlums.
Of course, the liberals will say this wouldn't happen if we banned guns. But we all know, those few hoodlums will always have their guns.
You forgot.
Citizens dropped the ball.
They don't teach children their civic duty anymore or how our government cannot work if the people are not self reliant and self governing.
They don't practice civil defense anymore, they let the state and feds take away their civil defense network and shut all the community shelters and sell off their civil defense supplies.
They elect corrupt and incompent politicians who loot the public treasury and do not maintain the infrastructure of the United States
They do not take responsibility for their own self government and whenever they get a chance to vote themselves money out of the public treasure in the form of socialist programs they do.
The do not follow the American creed of looking out for your neighbor, so he will look after you in your time of need. This includes protecting your neighbors property rights, protecting him from taxation and helping him to become a self reliant contributing citizen, instead pretending a socialist welfare system will fix everything.