Date: Thu, 18 May 1995 11:33:58 -0500 Reply-To: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Sender: H-NET List on German History From: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Subject: Nazi Gun Control Laws There are two messages below: 1) Submitted by: Kenneth Ledford The curiosity aroused by my posting yesterday about the booklet, "Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny" by the group "Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership" has led me both to a little research and reflection. I wish to elaborate a little on the contents of the book and to point those interested toward avenues of further research and action. The book reproduces several German laws and regulations without making any distinctions about regime changes. The first law is the "Gesetz ueber Schusswaffen und Munition" of April 12, 1928 (Reichs- gesetzblatt [1928] 143), Abschnitt IV of which regulates "Erwerb, Fuehren, Einfuhr und Besitz von Schusswaffen und Munition." Following are: Gesetz gegen Waffenmissbrauch, March 28, 1931, RGBl. (1931) 77. Vierte Verordnung des Reichspraesidenten zur Sicherung von Wirtschaft und Finanzen und zum Schutze des inneren Friedens. Vom 8. Dezember 1931, RGBl. (1931) 699, Achter Teil, Schutz des inneren Friedens, Kapitel I, Massnahmen gegen Waffenmissbrauch Verordnung zur Aenderung der Ausfuehrungsverordnung zu dem Gesetz ueber Schusswaffen und Munition. Vom 2. Juni 1932, RGBl. (1932) 253 Finally, the Waffengesetz vom 18. Maerz 1938, RGBl. (1938) 265. The booklet in question itself provides a photographic reproduction of the text from the RGBl., with an English translation (generally reasonably accurate) on the opposite page. Later, it becomes more tendentious when it places a translation of the German implementing regulations opposite the Federal Regulations implementing the Gun Control Act of 1968, trying to draw the same "objective" parallel to the translation. As to the group, Jews for the Preserveation of Firearms Ownsership, based in Milwaukee, it seems to be about five years old. It has participated in militia style rallies both before and since the Oklahoma City bombing (see an article in the Boston Globe, Tuesday, April 25, 1995, Metro/Region, p. 1). In October 1994, it caused a controversy in Cranston, R.I., by erecting a billboard along a busy highway that depicted a Star of David bracketed by a musket and automatic rifle (apparently the group's logo) with the legend, "All in favor of 'gun control' raise your right hand" with a picture of Hitler with his arm raised in the "Deutscher Gruss". (Boston Globe, Thursday, Oct. 6, 1994, Metro/Region, p. 76. A Nexis search of MAJPAP turned up 19 references to the group in the last two years. Those interested in the group could probably learn much more about it from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith (a Sally Greenberg is mentioned in the April 15, 1995, Boston Globe article) or from Handgun Control, Inc. Because the booklet is copyrighted, I cannot provide it to anyone. If you are so curious that you must see it, I can provide you with the group's address so that you can order it (for $19.95 and the pain of knowing that you are supporting the group financially). Research on German gun control laws of course can be carried out by anyone with access to the Reichsgesetzblatt. Finally a reflection. When I encountered the issue two years ago, my first reaction was the classically liberal (and lawyerly) impulse to "counter bad speech with more speech" and write an op-ed reply. That would have required research outside my own academic interests, and I concluded, moreover, that reasoned argument is unlikely to have any impact upon persons who believe or can be persuaded that the Gun Control Act of 1968 was intentionally modelled after Nazi "legislation." Thus I forebore. The Oklahoma City bombing and the apparently explosive growth of "militias" and general lunacy surrounding gun laws has perhaps changed the situation and indicates that I was mistaken. I urge anyone who feels led to undertake the research on the origins of gun control in Germany, and to its change over time to take into account the flood of weapons after World War I, political violence and assassination as a means of dissent, Fememord, etc., to place his or her conclusions and refutation of groups like the one in question in the general press as well as in scholarly journals. -- Prof. Kenneth F. Ledford, Department of History, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7107 e-mail: kxl15@po.cwru.edu 2) Submitted by: Benjamin Weber I remember reading that one of the measures that the Nazis took in preparation for their attack on the German Sinti was to prohibit them from possessing firearms. I cannot remember the exact date of this legislation, though I can look it up if anyone is interested. This would tend to fit with the notion that the Nazis prohibited those groups whom they intended to persecute from having guns. Benjamin Weber Univ. of Vermont bweber@moose.uvm.edu .