... If a new, totalitarian government was hell-bent on disarming America, how do you think they would go about it?
I see two extreme sides of the spectrum, with two differing outcomes - neither of which they'd push:
(1) Total ban on firearms = Total disintegration of the Country – it’s just too radical.
(2) "Death of a thousand cuts” approach = Too slow, not a swift enough, sum-zero operation.
... My guess is somewhere in the middle. Some sort of highly visible, positively spun & much ballyhooed nation-wide firearm registration effort. Imagine if you will, something along the lines of a “Only you can prevent forest fires, Smokey The Bear” theme with glossy, images of how it will help reduce crime in the Country. Giving good citizens a year-long amnesty to register all their guns prior labeling them a friend of terrorism and the subsequent brute consequences of disobedience.
... So, what do you expect could be the next major quantum-leap scenario in gun-control that would be palatable and “acceptable” to the average American citizen.