All of the rebels face the immediate threat of being brutally murdered, as do most of the citizens. I'm pretty sure most of them would be happy to get weapons, and that proper gun safety and potential PTSD aren't high on their list of concerns right now. When someone threatens to set your kids on fire you stop caring about those sorts of things pretty quickly.

What is this referring to, the National Socialists? I suppose then that by the same "logic" you believe the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to be the perfect example of why democracy and government by the people can never work.