I would go even further and say that "hard core socialists" tend to be pro-gun, at least for themselves. In my experience, the antigunners are rather naive middle-class centrists. They think social problems can be solved with a wave of the magic wand. In reality, the "gun problem" is simply intractable.
It is not true that gun control is the first step in some vast conspiracy to impose a left-wing dictatorship. Saying so lessens our credibility.
The wave of people buying guns in the last couple of years doesn't consist of former antigunners. These people, like most Americans, are neutral on guns. Owning guns, now, will at least make them more sympathetic to the pro-gun cause -- but it won't turn them into 2nd Amendment activists. Now that they have their guns, they might be content to "slam the door behind them."