You write: Stop and reconsider that statement. 2000, organized, armed, and completely ruthless persons with prior military service and training could overthrow a small country. A Coup de Tete is far more possible with those arms than without. How amny bandits did Castro have to start?”
uh ya... 2,000 SEMI automatic weapons. SEMI AUTOMATIC! Good lord think a minute about your post. As others have pointed out time and again here: These guys can get FULL AUTOMATIC military grade WEAPONS from a dozen countries shipped in by the truckload for $75 to $100 each while you are convinced they would pop for $700 for a SEMI automatic civilian grade weapon! Unbelievable that you actually may very well BELIEVE what you posted.
Go have another drink..
What makes you think this bunch of Matxists charged their fellow travellers a nickel?
I'll pass on a drink 'cause we'd better have our wits about us.
In countries which barely have a military, or which have one which can be corrupted, 2000 weapons will do nicely for the cannon fodder to haul around. A couple thousand in the right place at the right time in a small country can make or break an operation. Far more has been done with less.
WWI was started with a revolver.
The Rhodesians found out shooting select fire weapons on semi-auto improved fire discipline, and increased the number of kills for the ammo expended.
Vietnam was lousy with SKS variants, which may not have helped the individual troops, but used less ammo, were effective weapons, and killed far too many of our guys.
Besides, the average gunowner is depending on $700 semi-autos to be able to defeat this kind of crap if push comes to shove.