A friend of mine made a really good point the other day...
He said, "It's not up to us to convince them to let us keep our guns. It's up to them to convince us to surrender them." Which is true, since persuasion is the only legitimate way to accomplish political goals. Of course, we all know that political goals are nearly never accomplished legitimately; instead they are accomplished with force.
But you're right, there is not a lot of thought going on on that side of the argument. Which is why they must resort to force to get their goals met.