Nobody in their right minds robs a gun store. And almost nobody is ever successful in doing so. These guys would have been dead before they had an opportunity to say, "this is a stick up." These guys apparently didn't even own a gun, which means that they did not have the means to pull off the first part of their plot, much less finish it.
This thing doesn't pass the smell test.
I agree. This is staged at some level. Did you ever get the impression during Dole I that the Pub party was actually trying to throw an election?