Reply #12: True, but a well armed militia has to worry about...

[spin]

well armed potential victims.

I've seen pictures of two guys on motorcycles riding through a crowd with the passenger asshole beating people with a club. That's a lot of fun when you don't face some well trained individual with a .45 auto.

A .45 cal round to your body or your head can ruin your entire day.

And if a few of your buddies get shot while they are enjoying beating the shit out of someone, you might just reconsider your actions.

It takes a lot more guts to face someone who can kill you than it does some poor bastard who is unarmed. Bullies normally don't have a lot of courage. You definitely don't want to try home invasions merely because someone is yelling "Allah is great" on the roof.

So of course, you escalate. You start shooting people. They shoot back. Videos make it to the internet. You and your government supporters look like shit. More of your bullies die. You're desperate.

So you bring in the army. They really don't want to kill other citizens, after all at least half agree with the protesters.

You lose.

Of course, this all depends on the popularity of the resistance movement. If 50% support your ideas and 50% don't, you may win.