Federalist Society Scholar: Carson Right About Nazi Gun Control

[mikegriffith1]

RealClearPolitics is carrying an excellent article by Federalist Society scholar Daniel Payne titled "Ben Carson Is Right About Nazi Gun Control." Payne destroys the pseudo history that liberal writers have been peddling to attack Carson's comments about the fact that Nazi gun control policies made it much easier for the Nazis to hold onto power and to brutalize Jews and others. Here's an excerpt:

In addition to the disarmament that took place in the late 1930s, for about five years in the early-to-mid-1930s the Nazi Party had engaged in a massive nationwide seizure of weapons from political opponents. The Jews were predictably among the targeted groups.​

In Breslau in 1933, Jews were ordered to “surrender [their] weapons forthwith to the police authorities” on the basis that “Jewish citizens have allegedly used their weapons for unlawful attacks on members of the Nazi organization and the police.” This was a regular occurrence all over Germany until the Waffengesetz of 1938, which effectively banned Jewish firearm ownership in all of Germany (though this had been something of a reality for a while, as in 1935 the Gestapo had ordered no weapons permits to be issued to Jews without the approval of the Gestapo itself). ( Ben Carson Is Right About Nazi Gun Control )
​

Carson did *not* say that the Holocaust would have been stopped had it not been for Nazi gun control. He said that the Nazis' ability to brutalize Jews and others would have been "greatly diminished" had not the Nazis confiscated the guns of all perceived enemies. One can argue about exactly what "greatly diminished" means, but the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising proved that when the Jews could get their hands on weapons, they were willing to fight and were able to make the Nazis pay a stiff price.

But, of course, liberals aren't interested in facts and reason when it comes to Ben Carson, but the facts show that Carson's comments were perfectly rational and defensible.

 

[midcan5]

"University of Chicago law professor Bernard Harcourt explored this myth in depth in a 2004 article published in the Fordham Law Review. As it turns out, the Weimar Republic, the German government that immediately preceded Hitler’s, actually had tougher gun laws than the Nazi regime. After its defeat in World War I, and agreeing to the harsh surrender terms laid out in the Treaty of Versailles, the German legislature in 1919 passed a law that effectively banned all private firearm possession, leading the government to confiscate guns already in circulation. In 1928, the Reichstag relaxed the regulation a bit, but put in place a strict registration regime that required citizens to acquire separate permits to own guns, sell them or carry them."

The Hitler gun control lie - Salon.com The Hitler gun control lie - Salon.com

Besides, Omer Bartov, a historian at Brown University who studies the Third Reich, notes that the Jews probably wouldn’t have had much success fighting back. “Just imagine the Jews of Germany exercising the right to bear arms and fighting the SA, SS and the Wehrmacht. The [Russian] Red Army lost 7 million men fighting the Wehrmacht, despite its tanks and planes and artillery. The Jews with pistols and shotguns would have done better?” he told Salon."

 

[mikegriffith1]

"University of Chicago law professor Bernard Harcourt explored this myth in depth in a 2004 article published in the Fordham Law Review. As it turns out, the Weimar Republic, the German government that immediately preceded Hitler’s, actually had tougher gun laws than the Nazi regime. After its defeat in World War I, and agreeing to the harsh surrender terms laid out in the Treaty of Versailles, the German legislature in 1919 passed a law that effectively banned all private firearm possession, leading the government to confiscate guns already in circulation. In 1928, the Reichstag relaxed the regulation a bit, but put in place a strict registration regime that required citizens to acquire separate permits to own guns, sell them or carry them."

The Hitler gun control lie - Salon.com The Hitler gun control lie - Salon.com

Besides, Omer Bartov, a historian at Brown University who studies the Third Reich, notes that the Jews probably wouldn’t have had much success fighting back. “Just imagine the Jews of Germany exercising the right to bear arms and fighting the SA, SS and the Wehrmacht. The [Russian] Red Army lost 7 million men fighting the Wehrmacht, despite its tanks and planes and artillery. The Jews with pistols and shotguns would have done better?” he told Salon."

This is comical. I'm guessing you didn't even bother to read Payne's article before copying and pasting Harcourt's debunked article. Payne's article refutes Harcourt's claims.

Tell me: If the Weimar gun laws were stricter than the Nazi gun laws, when did the Weimar regime conduct mass gun confiscations that disarmed groups that the regime viewed as threats? When did that happen? Umm, well, the Weimar government never did any such thing. So it's pretty silly to claim that the Weimar gun laws were stricter than Hitler's gun laws, isn't it?

And if the Jews supposedly would have had no luck opposing the Nazis if the Jews had been armed, how on earth do you explain the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising? How? The modestly armed Warsaw Ghetto Jews held off the far more numerous and better-armed Nazis for a month and inflicted significant casualties on them. Just imagine if the Jews had been able to obtain more than just the limited amount of guns and ammo that they acquired.

Do you guys even THINK before you robotically copy and paste liberal myths when you're confronted with historical facts you don't like?

 

[Rustic]

Every dictator now and ever, did they allow their citizens to have firearms/weapons?

More firearms are a good thing... Always

 

[mikegriffith1]

Every dictator now and ever, did they allow their citizens to have firearms/weapons?

More firearms are a good thing... Always

Liberals might want to read Stephen Halbrook's massive and definitive book on Nazi gun control policy, Gun Control in the Third Reich, published in 2013, before they cite whitewashing articles on the subject from Salon. Here's a good article about Halbrook's book:

Gun Control in Nazi Germany, by Audrey Kline

Here's an extract from Kline's article:

Students of history as well as Second Amendment enthusiasts will find this a fascinating book and will find parallels between gun prohibition in pre-Nazi and Nazi Germany, and attempts to prohibit types of gun ownership and implement other forms of gun prohibition in the United States today. The current climate in the United States surrounding gun prohibition combined with a president who uses his office to impose executive order in ways not historically common gives many citizens pause, especially when looking at the era of the Third Reich. While certain states have imposed gun registration laws recently, enforcement of the laws remains unclear.​

While Halbrook is careful to point out that a combination of factors led to the events of the Holocaust, there is no denying that many of the pre-war activities contributed to Hitler’s ability to disarm targeted groups, particularly the Jews. The rapid pace with which Hitler disarmed the populace in Germany is startling. Halbrook’s account is gripping, thorough, and full of legal documentation, leading the reader through the sometimes-daily changes in gun prohibitions that furthered Hitler’s agenda. Ultimately, the prohibitions enacted by the Nazi regime led to monopoly control of firearms by the Nazis and eliminated the ability of many groups in society to defend themselves. A similar progression in contemporary society related to government control of firearms and the firearms industry is a concern of many gun owners in the United States today.​

Here's a summary of Halbrook's book carried at the publisher's website:

Based on newly-discovered, secret documents from German archives, diaries and newspapers of the time, Gun Control in the Third Reich presents the definitive, yet hidden history of how the Nazi regime made use of gun control to disarm and repress its enemies and consolidate power. The countless books on the Third Reich and the Holocaust fail even to mention the laws restricting firearms ownership, which rendered political opponents and Jews defenseless. A skeptic could surmise that a better-armed populace might have made no difference, but the National Socialist regime certainly did not think so—it ruthlessly suppressed firearm ownership by disfavored groups.​