Why non-violent resistance works better

In their book Why Civil Resistance Works, published in 2011, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephen point out that people can participate in non-violent protests in many ways.  They can boycott, or use humor, or paint signs, or demonstrate, or write letters, or give money.  Violent resistance, however, takes some skills.  You have to know how to shoot, or make bombs, or throw Molotov cocktails.  

Nonviolent resistance can be done in ways that you won’t get caught, or are hard to stop, or are funny.  Violent resistance can result in arrest, or torture, or death.  More people are usually willing to participate in non-violent resistance. 

In my classes I used the example of Martin Luther King.  Suppose instead of the Montgomery Bus boycott, King had gone into the hills of central Alabama with about 20 armed men and launched attacks.  Do you think that would have succeeded?  Do you think we would be celebrating Martin Luther King day?  Nonviolence is strategically the smart way to go.