Politics first, Traveller application second.
Politics
Finally, a pro-gun speaks the truth: When They Come For Your Guns… You Will Turn Them Over. This is simply a fact of life: guns do not create liberty, a culture that values liberty, integrity, and self-governance does. At best, they are a 1) tool that symbolizes your right to defend yourself and your property, and 2) a reminder that legitimate political authority is derived from the general population – from the bottom up – not from the police and the army.
I would only add that the Russians didn’t need guns to gain their freedom: photocopiers and fax machines were sufficient. Wisdom is known by her results, not by romantic and foolish gestures: forget the violence, and reach for your cell phone cameras!
Traveller
Now, as Traveller is a game, you can make romantic gestures there without real-life consequences – especially if you have a sympathetic Referee. That is one of the reasons games were invented: as a safe way to blow off steam.
It’s not my style though. I like to use games as models, to see what happens if you try to do A in unexpected situation B. Bureaucrats hate cell phones today, just as the KGB loathed photocopiers in the 1980s. But how about charisma-loving Ovaghoun Vargr? Or bloody-minded Suedzuk Vargr? Solomani bureaucrats gag at cell phones, but the Vilani bureaucracy have faced them for a good 10,000 years or so: how would they deal with them?
(Hint: the Internet didn’t exist in the First Imperium: neither did money. Rationing according to your class, however, was widespread.)
Finally, what are the cultural and political circumstances required for a near-bloodless victory over oppression? Is Christianity a necessary precondition? Economic collapse? A neighbouring free/freer society, to set an example?
