While much of what you say is undoubtedly true, I think you seriously underestimate the great American redneck who is heavily armed at this very moment. Don’t think for a minute that “they” don’t know that, too.
That is a fantasy that the right has got to get over. I come from Argentina where there are more guns than you can count, and we are not talking hunting rifles either. My father’s family is from the balkans. Even during Tito’s time all citizens were required to be armed, we are talking fully selective fire military ordinance here. An armed population does not rise up when they have families and relatives to think of. You really need something like a foreign invasion. The Germans learned that the hard way. Yugoslavia was the only country to liberate itself in WW II, but the people never turned those guns against Tito. When Tito was gonewas another matter. My point is that an armed population is not necessarily a rebellious one. That is whya small army smaller than the NYPD can control a population a hundred times the size of NYC. Put a few people against the wall and shoot them and you see how quickly people fold when they have to think of family and friends. Only when they are directly threatened and there is no other way out will you see rebellion. By that time though it will be too little too late. And the guys in charge KNOW THAT.