There are many ways to phrase it, but I think the concept of the government fearing the people is long gone when our ability to own weapons is so heavily regulated, and the government uses our tax dollars to design more complicated weapons all the time. How about the new ones for “crowd control” circumstances? The one directs sound at considerable distance and makes your ears/head hurt a lot, although covering your ears does nothing because it vibrates the skull. And there another one that makes your skin feel like it’s burning at considerable distance. No long-term tests on health effects yet, but they’ll try it on us anyway.