Modern societies are founded on social contract. To include in that social contract that the government maintains an absolute monopoly on lethal force is not equal to placing oneself at the mercy of the government. It is understanding that, quite the opposite, a civilized society is founded on the principle of non-violent conflict resolution.

Within a functional civilized society, citizens do not have the right to decide over the lives of other citizens except through the proper and impartial system of the judiciary. As such citizens do not have the right to posses tools whose only purpose is to exact lethal force on fellow citizens unless there is clear and present danger and the government is unable to provide the security it is obligated to do under its end of the social contract and lethal force is the only recourse to provide for the citizen's safety. These three requirements are in general never met in modern developed societies except in fringe situations (isolated rural areas with out of control criminal elements).

The idea that providing people with guns will protect them from a totalitarian government is just a fantasy and shows a complete lack of understanding how totalitarian governments work. If there is sufficient popular support, non-violent resistance is just as capable of toppling totalitarian regimes and many times more effective in ensuring a stable transition into a democratic government. If there is insufficient popular support, possessing firearms does nothing as individuals cannot stand up to the state. The examples given involve foreign occupations dealing with organised armed resistance and are taking place in and undeveloped unindustrialised country. It is completely different from the situation of a highly developed industrial country with a strong and functional central government.

In the end, there is no question. All civilized societies are founded upon the principle that the government maintains a monopoly of force. There is no proof that arming citizens provides adequate protection against governments which violate their social contract in the case of modern industrialised nation states, and lots of proof that allowing private citizens to violate the monopoly of force considerably worsens the safety of all citizens.