User blog comment:MB543/The Crimson Polls III: 13/@comment-2.98.251.90-20140324180441/@comment-27202257-20140327163504

Ownership of weapons amongst the civilian population actually wasn't that widespread--if it was, the storming of the Bastille in 1789 wouldn't have been necessary. While the insurgents certainly had weapons that didn't extend to civilians as a whole. Some did manage to take up arms by raiding arsenals, but a lot of them had to make due with barricading their houses and fashioning pointy sticks (which did happen after the storming of the Bastille, when people expected a countermove by the government). Bit of useful info.