The Myth of Nazi Gun Control

GunCite ^ | Last updated: 7/21/2001 | By N. A. Browne

[vannrox]

Last updated: 7/21/2001

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The Myth of Nazi Gun Control

By N. A. Browne

A commonly heard argument against gun control is that the National Socialists of Germany (the Nazis) used it in their ascent to and maintenance of power. A corollary argument is sometimes made that had the Jews (and presumably the other targeted groups) been armed, they could have fought off Nazi tyranny. This tract seeks to counter these misassumptions about Nazi gun control.

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. A government that cannot maintain some degree of public order cannot sustain its legitimacy. Nor was the German citizenry well grounded in Constitutional, republican government (as was evidenced in their choices at the ballot box). Gun control was not initiated at the behest or on behalf of the Nazis - it was in fact designed to keep them, or others of the same ilk, from executing a revolution against the lawful government. In the strictest sense, the law succeeded - the Nazis did not stage an armed coup.

The 1928 law was subsequently extended in 1938 under the Third Reich (this action being the principal point in support of the contention that the Nazis were advocates of gun control). However, the Nazis were firmly in control of Germany at the time the Weapons Law of 1938 was created. Further, this law was not passed by a legislative body, but was promulgated under the dictatorial power granted Hitler in 1933. Obviously, the Nazis did not need gun control to attain power as they already (in 1938) possessed supreme and unlimited power in Germany. The only feasible argument that gun control favored the Nazis would be that the 1928 law deprived private armies of a means to defeat them. The basic flaw with this argument is that the Nazis did not seize power by force of arms, but through their success at the ballot box (and the political cunning of Hitler himself). Secondary considerations that arise are that gun ownership was not that widespread to begin with, and, even imagining such ubiquity the German people, Jews in particular, were not predisposed to violent resistance to their government.

The Third Reich did not need gun control (in 1938 or at any time thereafter) to maintain their power. The success of Nazi programs (restoring the economy, dispelling socio-political chaos) and the misappropriation of justice by the apparatus of terror (the Gestapo) assured the compliance of the German people. Arguing otherwise assumes a resistance to Nazi rule that did not exist. Further, supposing the existance of an armed resistance also requires the acceptance that the German people would have rallied to the rebellion. This argument requires a total suspension of disbelief given everything we know about 1930s Germany. Why then did the Nazis introduce this program? As with most of their actions (including the formation of the Third Reich itself), they desired to effect a facade of legalism around the exercise of naked power. It is unreasonable to treat this as a normal part of lawful governance, as the rule of law had been entirely demolished in the Third Reich. Any direct quotations, of which there are several, that pronounce some beneficence to the Weapons Law should be considered in the same manner as all other Nazi pronouncements - absolute lies. (See Bogus Gun Control Quotes and endnote [1].)

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. Many considered themselves "patriotic Germans" for their service in the first World War. These simply were not people prepared to stage violent resistance. Nor were they alone in this mode of appeasement. The defiance of "never again" is not so much a warning to potential oppressors as it is a challenge to Jews to reject the passive response to pogrom. Third, it hardly seems conceivable that armed resistance by Jews (or any other target group) would have led to any weakening of Nazi rule, let alone a full scale popular rebellion; on the contrary, it seems more likely it would have strengthened the support the Nazis already had. Their foul lies about Jewish perfidy would have been given a grain of substance. To project backward and speculate thus is to fail to learn the lesson history has so painfully provided.

The simple conclusion is that there are no lessons about the efficacy of gun control to be learned from the Germany of the first half of this century. It is all too easy to forget the seductive allure that fascism presented to all the West, bogged down in economic and social morass. What must be remembered is that the Nazis were master manipulators of popular emotion and sentiment, and were disdainful of people thinking for themselves. There is the danger to which we should pay great heed. Not fanciful stories about Nazi's seizing guns.

---

Sources:

Shirer, William L., The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Jay Simkin, Aaron Zelman and Alan Rice, Lethal Laws.

International Constitutional Law

Endnote:

[1]. This is not to say Hitler did not value gun control. After having occupied Russian territory Hitler said:

Der größte Unsinn, den man in den besetzen Ostgebieten machen könnte, sei der, den unterworfenen Völkern Waffen zu geben. Die Geschicte lehre, daß alle Herrenvölker untergegangen seien, nachdem sie den von ihnen unterworfenen Volkern Waffen bewilligt hatten.

[The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.]
         --- Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitlers Tischegesprache Im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941-1942.
[Hitler's Table-Talk at the Fuhrer's Headquarters 1941-1942], Dr. Henry Picker, ed. (Athenaum-Verlag, Bonn, 1951)

GunCite does not have the German version, but Hitler continues, "Indeed I would go so far as to say that the underdog is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order."

---

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[handk]

The following was transcribed from "The Hour of the Time", hosted by William Cooper:

"Listen to this very carefully. Scoot up next to your radio. I don't want you to miss a word. I don't want you to miss anything. I have told you over and over and over again, for years. I wrote it in my book (click on book cover image below to access Amazon.com, the book's title is "Behold A Pale Horse"); my book's been in print for years, that this is a Nazi thing. The Nazis are coming. Socialism. Nazi means, "National Socialism". The Nazi Party was called the "National Socialist Workers Party."

"The Most Shop-Lifted Book in America!"

Do you understand what I'm telling you? There is no such thing as oppression on the right. There is no such thing as Nazis on the right. There are no Fascists on the right. A scale measures opposing states.

All the way on the left you have total control, all the way on the right you have the absence of any control. All the way on the left it's called "Communism," where the state owns and controls everything, even you, and even your underwear. It's where you pretend to work and they pretend to pay you. It's where if you say the wrong word you disappear forever. It's where they have millions and millions of people in labor camps doing slave labor. It's where pogroms are held and whole populations are murdered, slaughtered, one-by-one, any political opposition is murdered.

All the way on the right is total absence of control. it's called anarchy! Anarchy is terrible. it means if I see your shirt and I want it, I just shoot you in the head and take it, and nobody cares. Except you, and you're dead.

In between is the range between these two things. Just above Communism are Nazis. Somewhere in the middle is a Republic, which is the United States of America. This is not a democracy, never was, it was never intended to be. If you don't believe it, read the writings of our Forefathers, who warned us against democracy."

[Reading]: "During the past several months in the American press, the Democrats have frequently denounced the Republicans and other people on the right -- the militias, patriots, Christians -- as Nazis, due to their attempt to control runaway federal spending. How very ironic! I remember the Nazis, and let me share with you a little about them and recall some of their exploits."

[Cooper speaking for himself]: "This letter appeared in the Arlington Washington Times, on June 7, 1995. It's a letter to the editor, and I'll tell you who wrote it at the end. Listen to every word ladies and gentlemen, you're not going to believe what you hear, but it is absolutely true!"

[Words appearing in brackets below and bold-faced are those of William Cooper, adding comments as he reads the letter]:

"During the past several months in the American press, the Democrats have frequently denounced the Republicans and other people on the right -- the militias, patriots, Christians -- as Nazis, due to their attempt to control runaway federal spending. How very ironic! I remember the Nazis, and let me share with you a little about them and recall some of their exploits.

First of all, "Nazi" was gutter-slang for the verb "to nationalize". The Beider-Meinhoff gang gave themselves the moniker during their early struggles. The official title of the Nazi Party was "National Socialist Workers Party of Germany." Hitler and the Brown Shirts advocated the nationalization of education, health care, transportation, natural resources, manufacturing, distribution and law enforcement." [Hello? Anybody home? One ringy-dingy... Does that ring any bells for you folks? Let me continue...]

Hitler came to power by turning the working class, unemployed and academic elite against the Conservative Republic. After Der Fuhrer's election, the Nazi Party ceased being a political conspiracy and was transformed into a fashionable social phenomenon. Party membership was especially popular with educators, bereaucrats, and the press. Being a Nazi was politically correct. They called themselves, and this is an exact quote; "The Children of the New Age of World Order," and looked down their noses at everyone else.

As Hitler accrued more power, he began referring to his critics as; "...the dark forces of anarchy and hatred." Anyone who questioned Nazi high-handedness and the German press was branded a "conservative reactionary."

Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Communications, proclaimed, and I quote exactly; "A New World Order." The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports on the radio and in the newspapers. Paramilitary groups of Poles, Jews, Bohemians and Gypsies were said to be arming themselves to overthrow the "New World Order," and Hitler demanded that "all good people register their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of terrorists and madmen," and that's a direct quote; "...fall into the hands of terrorists and madmen."

"Right-wing fanatics" of the old order who protested firearms registration were arrested by the SS and put in jail for "fomenting hatred against the government of the German people."

Then the Reichstag [which was the "seat" of the German government, just like the our American equivalent, the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.] was blown up and Hitler ram-rodded an emergency anti-terrorist act through Parliament that gave the Gestapo extra-ordinary powers. The leader then declared that for the well-being of the German people, all private firearms were to be consfiscated by the Gestapo and the Wermacht [which was the federal law enforcement and the military.]

German citizens who refused to surrender their guns when "the jackboots" Gestapo came calling were murdered in their homes. By the way, the Gestapo was the Federal Marshall service of the Third Reich. The SWAT Team was invented and perfected by the Gestapo to break into the homes of the "enemies of the German people."

When the Polizei, Bewalken (or local police) refused to take away guns from townsfolk, they themselves were disarmed and dragged out into the street and shot to death by the SA and the SS. Those were the Nazi versions of the BATF and the FBI. When several Lutheran ministers spoke out against these atrocities, they were imprisoned and never seen again.

The Gestapo began to confiscate and seize the homes, businesses, bank accounts, and personal belongings of wealthy conservative citizens who had prospered in the old Republic. Pamphleteers who urged revolt against the Nazis were shot on site by national law enforcement and the military.

Gypsies and Jews were detained and sent to labor camps. Mountain roads throughout Central Europe were closed to prevent escape of fugitives into the wilderness and to prevent movement and concealment of partisan resistance fighters.

Public schools re-wrote history and Hitler Youth Groups taught children to report their parents to their teachers for anti-Nazi remarks. Such parents disappeared.

Pagan animism became the State Religion of the Third Reich, and Christians were widely condemned as "right-wing fanatics". Millions of books were burned first, and then people. Millions of them burned in huge ovens after they were first gassed to death. Unmarried women were paid large sums of money to have babies out of wedlock and then given medals for it.

Evil was declared as being good, and good was condemned as being evil. World Order was coming and the German people were going to be the "peacekeepers".

Yes. Indeed. I remember the Nazis, and they weren't republicans or right-wing or patriots or militias, they were Socialists and they were monsters!"

[Cooper]: And this letter was written by Thomas Colton Ruthford from Arlington, Washington. Did any of that sound familiar to you? It is word-for-word what is happening in the United States of America, as I have told you many, many times before.

What happened in Germany during Hitler's rise to power, is exactly what is happening in the United States of America today!

And if you don't want to believe it, and if you want to sit on your lazy sheep butts until they come and drag you out in the street and shoot you, then you go ahead and do it. There's a lot of us who ain't gonna be there with you. Got that? [End of transcript]

Milton William Cooper Born: May 6, 1943 Died: November 6, 2001 Loving Father Loving Husband Loving Friend True Patriot God Bless You Bill. You are Greatly Missed.

Bill & Crusher - Oct. 2001

[Tailback]

Isn't it great how some things never change

they had organized gangs of hoods that were intimidating political opponents using violence as a means

Here in Oregon the public employees union which is affiliated with SEIU and AFL/CIO has paid "thugs" to harrass and intimidate signature gatherers for ballot measures to prevent anti union measures from going to a vote. Some of the "Horrific" ballot measures include Unions required to get permission in writing from every member to use portions of dues for political campaigns, and requiring the government to pay property owners for loss in property value by a change in zoning or environmental restriction.

[hinckley buzzard]

William L. Shirer was a correspondent based in Germany throughout the nazi's rise to power. Any facts he may be quoted on are likely to be accurate.
(Shirer was one of the experts who debunked the leftwing "Hitler quote" fraud of the 60's.)

It is the interpretation and the assumptions made which fall apart--this author would have us believe that gun control was unnecessary because there was no domestic anti-Nazi resistance anyway.

By the time the holocaust was operating full-bore, there were many disaffected Germans, and an armed core of resistance at that time, with or without the Jewish population, could have materially altered the course of history. It was no accident that Hitler ordered gun control which "he didn't need."

This is a classic example of the "static" thinking of the liberal.
Beause there was no major nazi resistance (among an unarmed populace)
he assumes that the ownership of arms would have made no difference--a fanciful inference at best--as if such an armed resistance would not have arisen if given the arms to do so.

"Liberalism--the politics of denial."

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so."

I'll bet Kofi Annan has this quote plastered up on the wall of his office.

[HassanBenSobar]

You are correct, sir. In Munich there were indeed plenty of people who opposed Hitler, in fact, the newspapers at the time were shrill in denouncing Hitler's actions as a political murderer. (Hitler called one particular news outfit the 'Poison Kitchen' and had his thugs kill not a few journalists).

Hitler came to power through intimidation, murder, and the unfortunate fact that the mainstream German press, and the international press, never picked up on the exposes printed in Munich (for example, the death of Hitler's niece, which was clearly a case of Hitler murdering her--shockingly, with incestuous overtones). Not to mention that Hitler had the south German judiciary on his side.

His rise to power had very little to do with gun control.

[Dales]

Little to do with it, perhaps. But it certainly made the intimidation tactics easier.

One can't point to any single cause for Nazi Germany. There was enough blame there to go around, and then some.

If anyone hasn't read the book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", I highly recommend they take the time to read the 1300 pages. Absolutely mind boggling.

[Shooter 2.5]

Interesting article but I'm going to cut through the BS.
Gun control means that there were no gun stores in the Warsaw Ghetto.

[meenie]

Although this article looks at the evils of gun control, the events leading up to the takeover of the Nazis is really accurate. The similarity of the socialist movement in this country and the similarities to the German experience and the events made to bring the Nazis to power is very true.

I would say we were within ten years of a complete dictatorship if trends continue. The breakdown of values and the apathy of the average citizen combined with the disregard of rights in the war on terrorism are truly frightening.

Combine this with an economy that is capable of breaking down and the anarchy a major depression could produce and you have the catalyst to drive our President to use all the special powers that are granted him. Once used, it is almost unheard of for dictatorial powers to be reinquished.

[martian_22]

Freedom and Liberty are closer to anarchy on that scale than most of us are comfortable with.

With the absence of anything(one) to watch over your shoulder and direct(restriction w/ you paying cost) your life, your expressions of Liberty would only be checked by your own moral code....

[Dec31,1999]

There is little or no european tradition of private gun ownership as there is in the US. Therefore, this argument is factually true but does not really address the greater question.

If I'm not mistaken, the Swiss have had a strong and lengthy tradition of private arms ownership for about 400 years, which is probably why the Nazis wouldn't march into Switzerland, depite being the banking capital of Europe and perhaps the world.

While the French public were sans firearms, due to gun control laws of their own, the Swiss were commonly armed.

[scouse]

(there was no Right to Arms in the Constitution of 1919)

However there is a right to arms in the US Constitution

The basic flaw with this argument is that the Nazis (read this as democrats) did not seize power by force of arms, but through their success at the ballot box (and the political cunning of Hitler himself.>(Insert any democrat name you wish)

[FairWitness]

The Second Amendment is not just about owning guns; at bottom, it is about a state of mind that believes that "The People" are in charge of their own safety and protection, including against their own government if necessary. This is a state of mind that the Germans of the 1920's (and most other folks through time) apparently did not have. Far too many Americans of today also do not have this state of mind. The state of mind is as important as having the weapons themselves; insisting on the right, and acting on it to own a weapon keeps the government on notice that they (government) are not (yet) supreme.

[denydenydeny]

The essay is pretty mealy-mouthed in general. As people have noticed, it does not mention gun control policies in the occupied territories, only Germany proper, and therefore draws its conclusions from only a tiny sampling of Nazi territory.

[gatex]

"The simple conclusion is that there are no lessons about the efficacy of gun control to be learned from the Germany of the first half of this century. "

If 10 percent of the more than 6 million killed in concentration camps had each killed a Nazi soldier, the Nazi army would have been significntly affected.

[snopercod]

I've read Shirer's book, and don't recall any such reasoning.

A Gun Control Law Passed by the German Government One Day After Kristallnacht

---

1573

Regulations Against Jews' Possession of Weapons

11 November 1938

With a basis in §31 of the Weapons Law of 18 March 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p.265), Article III of the Law on the Reunification of Austria with Germany of 13 March 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 237), and §9 of the Führer and Chancellor's decree on the administration of the Sudeten-German districts of 1 October 1938 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p 1331) are the following ordered:

§1
Jews (§5 of the First Regulations of the German Citizenship Law of 14 November 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1333) are prohibited from acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons.  Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority.

§2
Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew's possession will be forfeited to the government without compensation.

§3
The Minister of the Interior may make exceptions to the Prohibition in §1 for Jews who are foreign nationals.  He can entrust other authorities with this power.

§4
Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions of §1 will be punished with imprisonment and a fine.  In especially severe cases of deliberate violations, the punishment is imprisonment in a penitentiary for up to five years.

§5
For the implementation of this regulation, the Minister of the Interior waives the necessary legal and administrative provisions.

§6
This regulation is valid in the state of Austria and in the Sudeten-German districts.

Berlin, 11 November 1938
Minister of the Interior
Frick

---

If a burglar is caught in the act of breaking in, and is struck and killed,
it is not considered an act of murder.
Exodus 22:1

If someone comes to kill you, arise quickly and kill him first.
Talmud Tractates B'rachot pp58a, 62b; Sanhedrin p72a

A Covenant not to defend myself from force, by force, is always void.
For ... no man can transfer or lay down his Right to save himself from Death.
Thomas Hobbes, 17th Century English Political Philosopher

One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purpose without resistance is,
by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms ..."
Joseph Story, U.S. Supreme Court Justice

To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them.
George Mason, American Statesman
and Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)

This just shows what you can expect from Jews if they lay hands on weapons.
Joseph Goebbels, commenting on the Warsaw Ghetto uprising

---

Translation from Gun Control - Gateway to Tyranny by Jay Simkin & Aaron Zelman, published by
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - http://www.jpfo.org/
PO Box 270143, Hartford, WI 53027 (414)673-9745

[VRWCmember]

However, the Nazis were firmly in control of Germany at the time the Weapons Law of 1938 was created. Further, this law was not passed by a legislative body, but was promulgated under the dictatorial power granted Hitler in 1933. Obviously, the Nazis did not need gun control to attain power as they already (in 1938) possessed supreme and unlimited power in Germany.

The author does a good job of making the point he is trying to refute. Once the Nazis were in power, they imposed stricter gun control laws to keep their subjects unarmed.

[vannrox]

Thank you, Snopercod, for your most excellent refute!

[Twodees]

Get in here and tell us your views on gun control, boy. You're too obsessed with one kind of thread. Expand your horizons.

[sauropod]

Ping for study.

[jackliberty]

The 1928 law was subsequently extended in 1938 under the Third Reich

This author cites "Lethal Laws" as a source and fails to note that on page 171 of "Lethal Laws" Section 33 of the 1938 law repealed the 1928 and 1931 laws.

I'm used to better from Gunsite.