BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: Gareth
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:29 PM

Myth I think - My father served as Town Major in Keil (Military Govener) in 1945 - He ordered the destruction by dumping in the Sea a lot of sporting weapons confisticated by 30 Corps

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: X
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:23 PM

I know for a fact that if the US government ever tries to confiscate my guns most of them would be clamed lost or stolen. Oh, they may get a few clunkers I own but the others would be lost only to be found at a another time.

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: toadfrog
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:21 PM

Well, Murray, they did lots of bad things to Jews, who were a small minority anyway. But the story you hear from the NRA is not about taking guns from Jews, but from everyone. Ostensibly a moral lesson, that Tyrants always take guns from the people so as to maintain their Tyranny. If they only took guns from Jews, the story loses its point, because the Jews could not have put up much of a resistance anyway.

Also, if someone asks, "can you tell me if the story has a factual basis," and you say, "oh, it's common knowledge," you are begging the question, because many things are widely believed which are not true.

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:17 PM

Oops, cross posted. Murray, good point. I was talking about general population as that is how the NRA threatens it would be applied here. Of course, the Jews and other minorities were disarmed. Sorry, I meant no disrespect.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:15 PM

There is a very interesting and scholarly discussion of it at this site: please click, scoll down and click on Nazi Gun Control Laws. There is one posting by someone who was there which is particular of interest.

Even the ones who claim it, from a quick scan on google, apprently claim it was laws passed before the Nazis came to power which allowed them to supposedly confiscate. From a quick read of the above, though, it looks as though it really didn't change anything when they took over and there wasn't a huge effort to disarm.

This is an interesting question. I hope it can be proved to be an urban legend; I know a few people I'd like to let know, if so.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:14 PM

I should have thought it was common knowledge that the Nazis confiscated all the guns belonging to Jews, prior to Kristallnacht. I don't think there is any dubiety concerning that.

Unless, of course, you believe the holocaust never happened ....

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:11 PM

Artbrooks, I think you hit the bullseye.

Subject: RE: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: artbrooks
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:04 PM

I don't think its an urban legand...I think its an NRA fairy tale.

Subject: BS: Did Nazis really take the guns?
From: toadfrog
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:01 PM

It is said that when the National Socialists took power in Germany they confiscated all the guns so that no one could challenge their power. I have often heard that story from American gun owners, but never from anyone else. My father, a Major in the 159th Field Artillery Battalion, took part in the initial occupation of Germany at the end of World War II. He heard that story too, but did not believe it because, he said, at the end of the war German civilians had a whole lot of firearms which he, personally, seized and impounded.   He said, when the Army impounded a peasant's shotgun, the peasant would often request that some soldiers come down and shoot his rabbits to keep them from eating up the crops.

I studied German history at an advanced level, but didn't focus on the Nazis. I knew several people who did, and went on to write books about them.   Not one of them ever mentioned any confiscation of guns. I lived three years in Germany, but I never heard that story, or anything like it, from a German. Does anyone know whether (1) there is any factual basis for this story, or (2) where it came from?

To me, it sounds like a classic urban legend.