The messed up part is if they hadn't let themselves get disarmed in the first place, they'd have already killed the sumbitch.
As in Saddam-era Iraq, semi-automatic weapons are freely available to purchase and own in Syria. The reason few revolt is because the consequence of a failed revolt is a root-and-branch massacre of one's family. This means relatives in all directions - uncles, grandfathers, in-laws and so on. It sounds kind of medieval, but when it comes to sedition, Arabs are a pretty medieval kind of people. Saddam and his children were the targets of several assassination attempts, so they never traveled without heavy security and every interaction for the cameras was heavily scripted in advance. The assassins' families were basically erased from the gene pool.