New book looks at Hitler’s use of gun control to disarm Jews

[SunnySlopes]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/07/n...rs-use-of-gun-control-to-disarm-jews/?print=1

It's a good read. From the article:

“Actually, there are parallels between the firearm bans and registration requirements enacted by the Weimar Republic and those proposed by President Obama,” Halbrook, a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, told The Daily Caller when asked what he would say to those who will argue making such a comparison sounds a bit hysterical.

”Only law-abiding persons obeyed those laws. Weimar authorities warned that the lists of gun owners must not fall into the hands of ‘radical elements.’ The lists fell right into the hands of the Nazis when they assumed power. Gun owner data can be misused by the government today just as it did in the IRS scandal, and it can be hacked for nefarious purposes.”

 

[Midwest]

JFPO also produced a book like this. http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/GCA_68.htm



"Gun Control": Gateway to Tyranny

by Aaron Zelman

Produced by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, this book contains the German language original of the Nazi Weapons Law of March 18, 1938, a page-by-page translation, and then a page-by-page comparison with the U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968. The similarities are more than striking. "

 

[SunnySlopes]

Thank you for that. I know some invoke Godwin's on these articles, but at what point do the similarities become relevant? I think we've already reached that point.

Thanks again for the article.

 

[alsaqr]

Yep, there is this popular notion that Hitler disarmed German citizens.

The most significant German gun control law was enacted by the Weimar Republic in 1928, prior to Hitler assuming power.

Gun control, the Law on Firearms and Ammunition, was introduced to Germany in 1928 under the Weimar regime (there was no Right to Arms in the Constitution of 1919) in large part to disarm the nascent private armies, e.g. the Nazi SA (aka "the brownshirts"). The Weimar government was attempting to bring some stability to German society and politics (a classic "law and order" position). Violent extremist movements (of both the Left and Right) were actively attacking the young, and very fragile, democratic state.

Hitler's only gun control law was enacted in 1938. Yep, it banned gun ownership by Jews. It is significant that few Jews owned guns.

A more farfetched question is the hypothetical proposition of armed Jewish resistance. First, they were not commonly armed even prior to the 1928 Law. Second, Jews had seen pogroms before and had survived them, though not without suffering. They would expect that this one would, as had the past ones, eventually subside and permit a return to normalcy.

Hitler did not come to power through armed insurrection. He was elected.

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcnazimyth.html

 

[Outlaw Man]

Nice article/interview. He wasn't trying to push unrealistic conclusions like "WWII never would have happened without gun control" like some people tend to imply when they're talking about the subject. He seems well grounded in the facts but taking a look at an area not really touched on by serious historians.

Thanks for sharing. I might have to pock up this book.

 

[itsa pain]

this has come full circle. because it seems powerful jews here are spearheading the effort to take guns away from americans

 

[caribou]

The 2nd amendment is to arm the Citizenry to defend themselfs against genocide.

Everywhere, in Europe, Asia, Africa, Gun control has preceeded genocide.

The last genocide in North america was in the 1980's when Guatamals gov disarmed and then slaughterd Mayan Indians, citizens of Guatamala.

Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and others would only proceed after they had the upper hand.

 

[PabloJ]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/07/n...rs-use-of-gun-control-to-disarm-jews/?print=1

It's a good read. From the article:

The only clear case of disarmament concerned Leonhard, Julius, Max and Witwe Jeanette Simson who owned Berlin-Suhler Waffen- und Fahrzeugwerke GmbH.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The Weimar Republic gun laws were passed in response to the post WWI spectacle of pitched street battles between left wing and right wing militias supporting parties who wanted to rule post-war Germany. One sage individual in the Reichstag recognized that these lawless radicals (Freikorps, Nazis, Communists, etc) would not be as affected as ordinary lawabiding citizens, and stated it did the dignity of the law no good to pass unenforceable statutes.

When the Nazis came to power, they did modify the laws. Germans loyal to the Reich saw some reduction in restrictions, but they really did clamp down on everyone else, particularly Jews and anyone who was basically not a Nazi.

Would the prospect of armed resistence have deterred the Nazi regime? When bishop of Munster gave a sermon denouncing the program of exterminating the incurably ill or the feeble-minded ("useless eaters") the Nazis backed off.

ADDED:
I have been following this off and on since about Feb 2007. I had previously saved three articles on this.

The opening shot was part of Fordham Law Review 2004 Symposium: The Second Amendment and the Future of Gun Regulation: Historical, Legal, Policy, and Cultural Perspectives. The article by Harcourt presented an attack on Halbrook, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, etc. on their view of Nazi gun control as tyranny. Halbrook then responed to Harcourt, and then Halbrook wrote a more general article on the subject.

Bernard E. Harcourt, "On Gun Registration, the NRA, Adolf Hitler, and Nazi Gun Laws: Exploding the Gun Culture Wars (A Call to Historians)", Fordham Law Review, Vol 73 Iss 2 Article 11, p.653ff. 2004.

Stephen P. Halbrook,"Nazism, the Second Amendment, and the NRA: A Reply to Professor Harcourt", Texas Review of Law & Politics, Texas Review of Law & Politics, Vol 11, No.1, p.113-131. 23 Dec 2006.

Stephen P. Halbrook, ""Arms in the Hands of Jews are a Danger to Public Safety": Nazism, Firearms Registration and the Night of Broken Glass", St. Thomas Law Review, Vol 21, p.101-134. 16 Feb 2009.


What boogled my mind was that Harcourt (anti-NRA) quoted William Pierce, author of the ''Turner Diaries'' and leader of the neo-Nazi National Alliance and National Vanguard, as a reliable source on the assertion that "German firearms legislation under Hitler, far from banning private ownership, actually facilitated the keeping and bearing of arms by German citizens..." (Harcourt at page 668) which is true if you don't count German Jews, et al. as citizens of the Third Reich. Harcourt did not deny "The Nazis sought to disarm and kill the Jewish population" (Harcourt at page 671). Harcourt claimed that Stephen Halbrook, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) and National Rifle Association (NRA) promote a myth of Nazi repression of firearms owners. Yes, the Nazis repressed only certain firearms owners, not all firearms owners. In fact Harcourt's quote from Halbrook ("German firearms laws and hysteria created against Jewish firearms owners played a major role in laying the groundwork for ... the Holocaust") actually supports the point the Nazis used selective gun control to suppress opposition and impose tyranny, but Harcourt ties it to claims the Nazis used registration to ID gun owners and confiscate all guns.

The exchange of criticism can be credited with producing Halbrook's book.

Stephen P. Halbrook, "Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and "Enemies of the State", Independent Institute (November 1, 2013). ISBN-13: 978-1598131611.
http://www.amazon.com/Gun-Control-Third-Reich-Disarming/dp/1598131613/

 

[MattShlock]

When in doubt the benefit thereof goes to Stephan Halbrook, a fine attorney and legal mind who has rationally and objectively studied (and written about) firearms ownership, related law, and the case of Freedom v. Tyranny for decades.