This material originally appeared on Kim Weissman's
Congress Action Newsletter

The Founders' Documents
(and more)
on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Words of Warning for Those Who Value Freedom

Author Stephen P. Halbrook, in 1995, wrote:

In 1928, Germany enacted its Gesetz uber Schusswaffen und Munition (Law on Firearms and Ammunition), which required firearms and ammunition acquisition permits and record keeping for all transactions. Through this legislation, the police acquired knowledge of all firearm owners, which was used to the Nazis’ advantage when they took power in 1933. The Nazi Waffengesetz (Weapons Law) of 1938, signed by Adolph Hitler, built upon the previous registration systems and strictly regulated handguns. The Nazi law provided in part:

(1) Licenses to obtain or to carry firearms shall only be issued to persons whose reliability is not in doubt, and only after proving a need for them.
(2) Issuance shall especially be denied to: ...
(3) gypsies, and to persons wandering around like gypsies;
(4) persons for whom police surveillance has been declared admissible, or upon whom the loss of civic rights has been imposed, for the duration of the police surveillance or the loss of civic rights;
(5) persons who have been convicted of treason or high treason, or against whom facts are under consideration which justify the assumption that they are acting in a manner inimical to the state....

Excluded from the license requirement were members of the armed forces, the police, the SS, the SA, and leaders of the Nazi party. Legislation also provided that unpopular persons were to be disarmed:

(1) In individual cases a person who has acted in an inimical manner toward the state, or it is to be feared that he will endanger the public security, may be prohibited to obtain, possess, and carry firearms and ammunition, as well as weapons for cutting or stabbing.
(2) Weapons and ammunition which may be found in the possession of a person against whom the prohibition has been declared, shall be confiscated without compensation.

The Nazis also promulgated extensive regulations governing the manufacture, sale, and ownership of firearms. One such regulation was the Verordnung gegen der Waffenbesitz der Juden (Regulations Against Jews’ Possession of Weapons).

Not surprisingly, this regulation was promulgated on November 11, 1938, the day after the anti-Jewish pogrom Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass). Section 1 of the regulation provided that:

Jews ... 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.

Ultimately, the gun control law was enforced against not only Jews, but also against any politically suspect person.

By having access to the names of firearms owners through the registration lists and hunting license records, the Nazis were obviously aware of any potential resistance. Worst of all, the Nazis did not just confiscate firearms; firearms owners disappeared in the night, never to be heard from again.

Table of Contents

Massachusetts' attorney Kim Weissman closed his website, Congress Action Newsletter, and has graciously selected TYSK as the repository for his very popular Second Amendment Information. Mr. Weissman and TYSK both hope that you will find what is contained here informative and enlightening and useful in refuting the claims, falsehoods, and distortions offered by those that want to restrict or eliminate the one pillar of the Bill of Rights which protects all others.

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jan 2006