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

[stanc]

Playing games with semantics will not change the facts.

On that we agree. And the facts are that the Syrian military is not fighting for Russia, and the rebels are not fighting for the United States.

Therefore, by definition, the belligerents are not proxies of Russia and the United States. So it is factually incorrect to call it a "proxy war."