The disarmament of a society can happen without taking away their tools of resistance, but by taking away the very will to resist in the first place.
If you give a pacifist a gun, you can still kill him with a baseball bat. He won't shoot you, won't raise his hands against you, won't defend his own miserable life. He will stand there and die even though he has the very means to resist.
The vilification of firearms and self reliance is part of this attempt. Tell people over and over that the police are there to protect them, that the government will take care of their every need, that resisting the criminal is immoral, and you've laid the framework for tyranny. No amount of weaponry is a threat when it lies unused.