This may be true in most circumstances but let's take a look at potential insurrection in the United States. I chose the word "insurrection" to mean as it was defined in Article 149 General Order 100 during the Civil War, to wit:
"Insurrection is the rising of people in arms against their government, or a portion of it, or against one or more of its laws, or against an officer or officers of the government. It may be confined to mere armed resistance, or it may have greater ends in view."
First, consider the number of veterans residing in almost any community of the United Sates. There is a huge pool of individuals most of whom have received at least some rudimentary training with firearms, some of whom were the most highly trained shooters in the world.
So the first step is to arm them. How is this accomplished? Seize weapons from active duty military, National Guard armories and police using those aforementioned civilian light weapons. Now I know you're thinking "How would you seize weapons from active duty military?" In the case of a Marine Infantry Company or the 82nd Airborne I concede your point. But, as I former officer, I can tell you that the bulk of the US military is not composed of elite combat troops and if the Army hands out weapons to the 505th Transportation Company and sends them into put down insurrection, which they would be forced into doing in the case of widespread insurrection, I would consider the odds to be much better.
To do this the insurrectionists could exploit three critical points.
First, the ability of the insurrectionists to meld into the community.
Second, the reticence of US troops to fire on US civilians. And,
Third, concern about their own families and relatives.
The last, while ignoble, might be the most easy to exploit. I do not think the behavior of the police in New Orleans, that is abandoning their duty to protect their families, would be an isolated incident. If the insurrectionists actively targeted military dependents I can assure you that if would severely effect the ability of the military to respond. This would also apply, perhaps even more so, to local police departments.
Once you have a cadre of insurrectionists with military grade weapons who know how to use them the sides are closer to even with the insurrectionists fighting for their community and the active duty military distraught over fighting US civilians in the US and worried sick about their families and lived ones.
I pray that such a scenario would never come about but it would be fascinating to observe,
Bad, bad idea. That would alienate the very troops we'd be hoping we'd defect to us. It would be better to do just the opposite. Not too many liberals join an all volunteer military. On the contrary, many of the military were gun owners in civilian life, and/or have fathers/uncles/brothers/sons who are gun owners. Sympathy for the RKBA probably runs stronger in the military than most other segments of society. So if we stricly avoid harming military dependents, we can probably count on both shared views and family ties to get a large number of them to join the revolt -- bringing their heavy weapons with them, of course.
Civilian politicians, on the other hand, are another topic entirely. Arguably the greatest threat is that any politician who casts his vote in favor of killing hundreds of thousands of citizens, knows that he'll have to spend the rest of his life in a bubble of bulletproof glass (imagine the Popemobile, only 24/7). Most people like to walk outdoors once in a while; the perpetual threat of snipers would make the guilty politicians prisoners.
Pray to God it never comes to that.
A tank division aint worth beans if all the little people who do the paperwork to order the fuel, parts, and ammo and figure the payroll decide it's not in their best interests to show up for work
While it was easy for the Wehrmacht to overrun Yugoslavia, the Nazis had to commit up to 600,000 troops ( by some estimates ) to maintain the occupation.
Now, extend this scenario to the hills of West Virginia, the Rockies, the 'boondocks' in 'flyover country'. In fact, certain cities might have to have a significant contingent to either blockade or subdue, depending on the 'rebel' status.
Then, there is the issue of resources, and having troops guarding them to prevent a midnight accident.