The truth about Nazi Gun Grabbers!

With gun owners increasingly aware of the Jewish leadership of the gun-banning
movement, a group of Jews in Milwaukee claiming to be defenders of the Second
Amendment have been noisily denouncing gun control as a "Nazi" scheme. The group,
calling themselves Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, assert that Adolf
Hitler was the father of all gun grabbers. The proof of this, they claim, was the German
Weapons Law (Waffengesetz) of March 18, 1938, which was enacted by Germany's
National Socialist government. They have succeeded in persuading at least one magazine
read by firearms enthusiasts to publicize their claims repeatedly (Guns and Ammo, May
1993 and March 1994).

The truth of the matter is that the 1938 German law specifically provided for the ownership
and carrying of firearms, including handguns, by law-abiding German citizens. Jews, of
course, were not German citizens -- the National Socialists defined citizenship in ethnic
terms -- and the law specifically barred Jews from having any role in the manufacture of
firearms or ammunition or from being firearms dealers (but not from purchasing or owning
firearms).

The German law certainly was not an ideal one from the viewpoint of today's beleaguered
American patriot, because it did have certain licensing requirements. A permit
(Waffenerwerbschein) was required to buy a handgun (but not a long gun), and a separate
license (Waffenschein), good for three years, was required to carry any firearm in public.
Actually, the German law was less restrictive than most state and local laws in the United
States were before the current campaign to nullify the Second Amendment shifted into high
gear in 1993. More significantly, it ameliorated a law which had been enacted ten years
earlier by a Left-Center government hostile to the National Socialists (the government
headed by Wilhelm Marx and consisting of a coalition of Socialists and Catholic Centrists).
The 1938 law irritated the Jews by pointedly excluding them from the firearms business,
but it clearly was not a law aimed at preventing the ownership or use of firearms, including
handguns, for either sporting or self-defense purposes by German citizens. As noted
above, it actually relaxed or eliminated the provisions of a pre-existing law.

The facts, in brief, are these:

* The National Socialist government of Germany did not fear its citizens. Adolf Hitler was
the most popular leader Germany has ever had.

* The spirit of National Socialism was one of manliness, and individual self-defense and
self-reliance were central to the National Socialist view of the way a citizen should behave.
The notion of banning firearms ownership was alien to National Socialism.

* Gun registration and licensing (for long guns as well as for handguns) were legislated by
an anti-National Socialist government in Germany five years before the National Socialists
gained power. Five years after they gained power they got around to rewriting the gun law
enacted by their predecessors, substantially ameliorating it in the process (for example,
long guns were exempted from the requirement for a purchase permit; the legal age for gun
ownership was lowered from 20 to 18 years; and the period of validity of a permit to carry
weapons was extended from one to three years). They may be criticized for leaving certain
restrictions and licensing requirements in the law, but they had no intention of preventing
law-abiding Germans from keeping or bearing arms.

The highlights of the 1938 German Weapons Law (which in its entirety fills 12 pages of the
Reichsgesetzblatt with legalese), especially as it applied to ordinary citizens rather than
manufacturers or dealers, follow:

* Handguns may be sold or purchased only on submission of a Weapons Acquisition
Permit (Waffenerwerbschein), which must be used within one year from the date of issue.
Muzzle-loading handguns are exempted from the permit requirement.

* Holders of a permit to carry weapons (Waffenschein) or of a hunting license do not need
a Weapons Acquisition Permit in order to acquire a handgun.

* A hunting license authorizes its bearer to carry hunting weapons and handguns.

* Firearms and ammunition, as well as swords and knives, may not be sold to minors
under the age of 18 years.

* Whoever carries a firearm outside of his dwelling, his place of employment, his place of
business, or his fenced property must have on his person a Weapons Permit
(Waffenschein). A permit is not required, however, for carrying a firearm for use at a
police-approved shooting range.

* A permit to acquire a handgun or to carry firearms may only be issued to persons whose
trustworthiness is not in question and who can show a need for a permit. In particular, a
permit may not be issued to:

1. persons under the age of 18 years;

2. legally incompetent or mentally retarded persons;

3. Gypsies or vagabonds;

4. persons under mandatory police supervision (i.e., on parole) or otherwise temporarily
without civil rights;

5. persons convicted of treason or high treason or known to be engaged in activities hostile
to the state;

6. persons who for assault, trespass, a breach of the peace, resistance to authority, a
criminal offense or misdemeanor, or a hunting or fishing violation, were legally sentenced to
a term of imprisonment of more than two weeks, if three years have not passed since the
term of imprisonment.

* The manufacture, sale, carrying, possession, and import of the following are prohibited:

1. "trick" firearms, designed so as to conceal their function (e.g., cane guns and belt-buckle
pistols);

2. any firearm equipped with a silencer and any rifle equipped with a spotlight;

3. cartridges with .22 caliber, hollow-point bullets.

That is the essence. Numerous other provisions of the law relate to firearms manufacturers,
importers, and dealers; to acquisition and carrying of firearms by police, military, and other
official personnel; to the maximum fees which can be charged for permits (3 Reichsmarks);
to tourists bringing firearms into Germany; and to the fines and other penalties to be levied
for violations. (A full text and translation of these German gun laws is available from
National Vanguard Books, PO Box 330, Hillsboro WV 24946 USA, for $14 postpaid.)

The requirements of "trustworthiness" and of proof of need when obtaining a permit are
troubling, but it should be noted that they were simply carried over from the 1928 law:
they were not formulated by the National Socialists. Under the National Socialists, these
requirements were interpreted liberally: a person who did not fall into one of the prohibited
categories listed above was considered trustworthy, and a statement such as, "I often carry
sums of money," was accepted as proof of need.

The prohibitions of spotlight-equipped rifles and hollow-point .22 caliber ammunition were
based on considerations that the former were unsporting when used for hunting, and the
latter were inhumane.

It was not until 1945, when the communist and democratic victors of the Second World
War had installed occupation governments to rule over the conquered Germans that
German citizens were denied the right to armed self-defense.

Despite these facts, there are a number of people among those who support Second
Amendment rights who have fallen for the Jewish trick of associating gun-grabbing with
Hitler and the National Socialists. These people sometimes make such statements as, "The
first thing Hitler did when he came to power was round up all the guns." Such statements
are demonstrably false, and when they are made by a person who genuinely supports
Second Amendment rights they reveal the person's ignorance or dishonesty. When they
are made by a Jewish group it is clear that their intent is to confuse the public and
deceitfully deflect blame from their fellow Jews.

[link to www.thebirdman.org]