"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States." --Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, 1787
When she was 13, my sainted 85 year old mother arrived at school one day in her small Danish town to find German tanks parked there. Her English teacher raised the windows in her classroom so that the occupying troops would be sure to hear the English songs, including God Save the Queen, which she and her students sang that day. While the Germans probably did not appreciate that small display of contempt from the Danes, they understood what the real tools of resistance might be. One of the first things they did in Denmark was to disarm the police and the civilian populace.