[anigbrowl]

Tunisia has the lowest rate of gun ownership int he world, and they managed to have a revolution and get rid of an entrenched dictatorship just the same. What's missing from your historical examples is a strategic dimension; it's not as if all those people knew a dreadful fate awaited but had no weapons to resist with. Rather, they were taken by surprise and did not anticipate finding themselves the targets of mass repression. It's easy to say that you would have fought back with the benefit of hindsight. Everything looks simple in hindsight.

[hga]

Tunisia: any revolution like that can susceed if the rulers don't have the will to order mass supression and/or the military is not willing to follow those orders. 338 deaths (Wikipedia) tells us there wasn't a whole lot of shooting in either direction.

As for your latter point and Europe, after the 30 Years War one would have hoped more would realize that widespread rifle ownership was an existential issue. The Swiss did, at least in due course. Others obviously did not, although as I've pointed out elsewhere wealth had a whole lot to do with that, plus the higher maintenance required by older guns.

[anigbrowl]

after the 30 Years War one would have hoped more would realize that widespread rifle ownership was an existential issue.

That's a complete non sequitur of an argument. You migth as well argue for conscription on that basis. I think you're confused.

[hga]

The 30 Years War was that era's WWI/Great War in it's aftermath. It forever shattered the idea of a general Christan commonwealth and so depopulated areas in which it was fought that many Germans think it was worse than the worse of WWII and I'm inclined to agree.

It was a stark object lesson in the potential fate of unarmed civilian communities, and I'm sure it was an input into the Swiss system, which of course includes conscription.

[anigbrowl]

It's an equally stark lesson in fully militarized armies being bloodily defeated. I fail to see what this has to do with contemporary gun control proposals; war always sucks for civilians. If an extended civil war of some sort broke out across privately owned Bushmasters would be of little use against bombs, long range artillery and so on.

[hga]

I'll just reply with a hint, using an old maxim: ""Amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics".