Mao tse Tung said power comes out of the barrel of a gun.
Yes, he was correct. And the Founders knew that, too. Which is why they made sacred and inviolable (by placing it number two in the list of basic rights that the Federal Government may never infringe upon, i.e., interfere with) the right of the people to keep and bear arms. This guarantees that the government may never have a monopoly on power, and that the people will always reserve the ability to throw off a tyrannical government if an attempt is ever made to impose one on us.
