The "want to be" gun confiscators would have a daunting job ahead of them

[stanc]

So that is why the Russians succeeded in Afghanistan in the '80's?

You're focusing on the wrong aspect of the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. The salient point is not that they eventually withdrew, but that the widespread ownership by Afghans of rifles and other small arms did not deter the Russkis from invading in the first place.