> The guns are for the possibility of civil war/social upheaval/violent revolt.

I will never understand Americans' desire to prepare for a tyrannical government, that may with some low probability happen in some unspecified future, but in such a way that it can still be defeated.

When they are simultaneously giving up lots and lots of lifes in violent murder sprees every single year. With absolute certainty and in the present.

Looks like an optimization gone wrong to me.