A civil war just can't come out of nowhere. The U.S. government is stronger than it has ever been. A militia army would stand a chance against the U.S. armed forces that have drone, attack helicopters, satellite etc. Raising and army to fight the U.S. government would be tough. On top of that you have the mass spying and monitoring capabilities of the NSA, CIA and FBI. It would be very hard to organize or communicate.
So the guys that say they need their guns to protect themselves from the U.S. government are either fools or lying!
So there would have to be a few events: the generals in the army turn on the President, a major terrorist attack that destroys the U.S. infrastructure, a plague etc.
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Well, there is some middle ground. While the US army does have tanks and missiles and such that the people don't have, those are almost never used. 99.9999% of interactions between the public and the government are small arms. In a stand up war the 'militias' would obvious have their asses handed to them. But in pretty much any other lower level engagement it would be small arms v. small arms.
That being said, if any 'militia' started killings cops, soldiers and fire fighters in the name of their 'revolution', they'd have much more serious issue to content with. The vast swaths of a very well armed population that simply wouldn't put up with their shit. And would simply end them once they started their 'war'.
I'd give it about a day......a sunrise to sunset day.....before the very 'revolutionaries' that were shooting at cops and soldiers in the morning were begging the same for protection in the evening. As the very well armed and organized public would very simple cull the 'revolutionaries' with the same concern and afterthought one dedicates to putting down a rabid animal.