I've read a book or two in my day, even been to a few different countries. :thumb:
In my opinion, people throw out the "protect myself against a tyrannical government" thing without much thought. Do you seriously think there is a legitimate risk of our nation's government taking up arms against its people? If the answer is yes then you believe that our courts, Congress, and executive branch would all take concerted, mass military action against the citizens of this country. I find that to be laughable. I also have way more faith in the men and women of our military, and our police forces, than to believe that they would carry out such widespread orders against their brothers, sisters, parents, friends, children, etc.
Do not confuse revolutionary wars (people rising up against tyrannical rule to overthrow existing government) with civil wars (citizens of a nation fighting each other). Unfortunately, the way things are going, another civil war in this country seems at least theoretically possible, but the need to take up arms against an oppressive U.S. government trying to rule by force? Not so much.
As a practical matter, the U.S. government doesn't need the use of force to control the population. To a large degree, the government already controls money, food, water, and shelter. In doing so, it already controls the population (whether anyone wants to admit it or not).