Comment: I'm not laughing. Can you say "selective enforcement"?

This is what I'd expect:

They'll come after those on their "enemies list" first, starting from the most articulate, opinionated, and persuasive, then working down.

Once these "likely ringleaders" are disarmed and (when opportunity arises) jailed, they hope to be down to people who are either timid enough to knuckle under or disorganized enough to only put up a resistance that can be defeated.

Then they go after those who fight. If they win they're down to the sheep. After that the future is Orwell's "boot stomping on a human face - forever".

I think they're too stupid and/or self-deluded to realize what a tiger's tail they're yanking. It's starting to look like they're going to go ahead and try it. (ARE going ahead and TRYING it!)

For me the big question is whether they're going to watch what happens here and ramp it up gradually, go straight for a big, continuous, series of raids (ala crystalnacht), or ramp slowly until resistance starts and THEN accelerate.