attackfish

Whedon has actually said they were a reference to the Confederates. Having a group of failed revolutionaries in a fictional world would not be a bad thing, and would in fact be cool, but not when it's explicitly an allusion to a revolution that was over the failed group's rights to own other human beings (and yes, that was what it was about, the states' rights argument was a later invention and a smokescreen). Though the South continues to glorify the Confederates, and Hollywood follows suit, it was a very black on gray war, not a gray on gray war, and Firefly contributes to a narrative that obscures that.

Tropes like the failed revolution in a western aren't awful on their own, or if there's one or two (because then it wouldn't occur to us to think Confederates) but in aggregate it's bad. And it might not look so bad to someone who isn't American (because you're not getting steeped in this history and mythos) but it is. It really is.

As for the guns, you could just make it so that the outlying planets have a problem with dangerous creatures and general lawlessness, so that gun running has become big business. If you already have a corrupt government, then all you have to do is mention the gunrunning, and mention someone who was paid off. remember, Whedon himself is an American, and gun laws are much looser over here.

I did, but I has so many quibbles with the historical viability of it that I couldn't enjoy it.