Maybe it wasn’t widespread, but I remember seeing on the news an elderly woman being disarmed in her own home and another guy having his antique weapons he had inherited confiscated and not getting them back. It was wrong even if they didn’t get to all the law abiding citizens.
You are absolutely correct. In the longer term, outrage over these abuses sparked passage of numerous laws clarifying that those actions are unlawful.
In May 06, the city of New Orleans ended up admitting to having 1000 confiscated guns in their possession. Sounds like widespread and done by the city to me. And why would anyone claim that having your gun confiscated by an American soldier who should know better, as opposed to some city thug, is OK. The confiscation was widespread, was not limited to the military, was not constitutional, was not OK.
My son’s friend has a gun shop and shooting range and they came in and confiscated every gun he had in his shop. Maybe they were trying to cut back on the looting but it was scary and big brother like.