Raytheon etc - police will have better weapons than the public.
"Wonder if they'll wonder why the public just watched as they are beaten to death by angry crowds?"
Technology ensures that probably won't happen, at least not to the point of a total loss of control of the public.
Future police etc., probably wouldn't have much trouble obtaining (perhaps secretly without public knowledge) and, if need be in times of "national emergency" (which could be just about any situation) actually *using* stuff like:
The "sonic deathwave cannon... for riot pacification":
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/19/israeli_sonic_cannon/>
and Raytheon's "riot-roasting raygun" which "The United States is to export... to an unnamed foreign ally":
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/07/silent_guardian_export/>
Yeah, so maybe using that stuff wouldn't be exactly democratic in some people's views, but authorities do all sorts of strange things to combat perceived threats against their "national security" etc., and angry mobs destroying the police would likely qualify as such.
So don't hold your breath waiting for the next revolution - the police and militaries will always have better weapons and better technology.
The public doesn't stand a chance, unless something were to take out *all* electronic devices and communications and revert us back to the stone-age temporarily... which, given the fragility of modern electronics, might not be that hard to do, with sufficient funding (probably provided by some *other* nation-state or 'terrorist' group that has money to invest in researching such things).