Honestly, I don’t really think that an armed population really affects the ability of the ruling elite to maintain power one way or the other. A population pushed far enough to revolt both tends to find a way to arm itself and poses a threat to the power of the ruling class regardless (because things just don’t get done without their work), and singular armed people aren’t very difficult for an organized military to deal with. How restrictive gun laws should be is mostly just a cultural thing in my view.
Honestly, I don’t really think that an armed population really affects the ability of the ruling elite to maintain power one way or the other. A population pushed far enough to revolt both tends to find a way to arm itself and poses a threat to the power of the ruling class regardless (because things just don’t get done without their work), and singular armed people aren’t very difficult for an organized military to deal with. How restrictive gun laws should be is mostly just a cultural thing in my view.