You have to ask what percentage of the public supports the govt. Even if 100% of the military and law enforcement swears obedience to a wannabe dicktater they still need the support of a portion of the population. Basic things like food, water, refining oil, making toilet paper, etc are done by non-billionaire civilians. Piss them off and you will find yourself suffering a great standard of living decline. Now imagine how easy it would be for angry civilians to mess with the supply chain by simply not coming to work, or working badly. Guns help because they raise the cost of every dicktater action. The dicktater never knows when a random shooting of a critical machine or trusted inspector will occur and disrupt the supply chain. The reason dicktaters are in power is a large percentage of a country in key industries supports them, or they have foreign suppliers.