An armed society can retaliate and react to these types of actions. As they add up and become too much an armed society can gather to fight a despot who has con

An armed society can retaliate and react to these types of actions. As they add up and become too much an armed society can gather to fight a despot who has continually abused their power to take away inalienable rights of the people. An armed society can more easily get the backing of military generals and form a credible resistance quickly. An armed society might make a potential despot think twice about going down that route. In the scenario you describe, you're right. But as a government continues this type of abuse eventually an armed society can rebel against it. It is their responsibility to rebel against it. An unarmed society is crippled in this regard.