In point of fact the "hundreds of thousands" of useful idiots will eventually come to understand the real world - and in the meantime little will change. The millions of NRA members alone trump them, and NRA membership has just had a significant jump.
"When it's a matter of seconds, the police are only minutes away."
While I think it's ridiculous to attach the "if any" claim to this sentence, I think the more general claim (the one referencing "many people") is fair.
> or that there are distinctions between firearms companies at all.
This is an absurd claim to make. You really think that people protesting don't know the difference between various firearm brands and manufacturers?
I'm sure they can't all name every brand or manufacturer, but your claim is that most aren't aware that there are distinctions between various firearm companies. That's ludicrous on its face.
I interpreted the text of your comment:
"or that there are distinctions between firearms companies at all."
as saying most in the protests were unaware that there were differences between firearm manufacturers. Not that they would be familiar with what the specific differences were.
I think the vast majority of people know that there are differences between firearm manufacturers. I think you're quite correct in the claim that many activists may not be aware of what those specific differences are.
Pre FG Rem guns often sell for more than new ones simply because of the manufacturing quality differences.
The pro gun community is actually responsible for the Remington issues, as they have been railing on Remington for years now, which really started around the Rem 700 recalls.
However, on the other hand, expectation of future regulation may affect expected future revenue and thus present creditability.
Add in that a long history of treating their union employees like garbage has led to a lot of internal disconnect between management, engineering, and labor and you have a situation that is not tuned for long term growth.