Thread: Words Of Warning from Venezuela: Don't Give Up Your Guns!

Words Of Warning from Venezuela: Don't Give Up Your Guns!

Wed, 12/19/2018 - 19:45

108 SHARES
Authored by James Fite via Liberty Nation,

Venezuelans lost the right to own guns in 2012. They’re paying for it now...



While Brazilians flock to firearms training in preparation for incoming pro-gun president Jair Bolsonaro, the people of Venezuela can only dream of such liberty. The Venezuelan National Assembly passed the “Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law” in 2012. It took effect in 2013, officially banning the commercial sale of guns and ammo to anyone outside the government.
Venezuelans, for the most part, didn’t see much need for owning guns to defend against tyranny.
Now they know better, and some are offering words of warning, via interviews with Fox News.



Hindsight In Venezuela

“Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” said the now exiled Venezuelan English teacher, Javier Venegas.
“The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.”

It was already very difficult to get a firearm legally, as ownership required a government issued permit. The process of obtaining one was slow and rife with corruption, as bribes to speed the process up were common. Only one department was allowed to issue the licenses, and there were only eight gun stores in the country.
After the ban, then-President Hugo Chavez offered an amnesty program to allow the people to trade their arms in for other goods, though only 37 did.



Over 12,500 were confiscated by force. His successor, Nicolas Maduro, continued to enforce the law, often making a public spectacle of destroying weapons.

The Nature Of Government

As Liberty Nation’s Andrew Moran has shown, things only got worse in Venezuela as time went on. Finally understanding the dangers of totalitarian socialism, many have protested, advocating change to a more democratic method. Almost 200 of them have been killed since the spring of 2017, gunned down by the government.
How did this happen?

“Venezuelans didn’t care enough about it,” Venegas explained.
“The idea of having the means to protect your home was seen as only needed out in the fields. People never would have believed they needed to defend themselves against the government. Venezuelans evolved to always hope that our government would be non-tyrannical, non-violator of human rights, and would always have a good enough control of criminality.”

There’s an old story about a scorpion asking a frog to ferry it across a river. The frog voices its suspicions, but the scorpion argues – quite logically – that stinging his ride would only doom them both. Convinced that surely his tiny passenger wouldn’t commit suicide just to kill him, the frog agrees. Even if you haven’t heard this one, you can probably tell where it’s going.
Just like the scorpion, governments tend to be incapable – and often unwilling – to overcome their oppressive and destructive nature once the people trade liberty for the illusion of security.

“If guns had been a stronger part of our culture, if there had been a sense of duty for one to protect their individual rights, and as a show of force against a government power – and had legal carry been a common thing – it would have made a huge difference,” Venegas told Fox.

But by the time Venegas and his countrymen realized their error, it was too late. You can’t even buy an airsoft or BB gun – not even a slingshot – unless you’re a police or military officer. Get caught carrying or selling such a prohibited weapon and you’ll do 20 years in prison.
Liberty’s Death Spiral

While it may be tempting to say we’re a long way from Venezuela, it always starts somewhere. Venezuelans have been conditioned to trust their government entirely, so they didn’t realize what they were losing in time to stop it.
When the anti-gun left tells you how much safer we all are without firearms, keep this in mind: Giving in on even one gun control measure is the beginning of liberty’s death spiral. With each new restriction, we lose our freedom at an accelerated rate. It isn’t just the right for some people to have guns that keeps us free; it’s the cultural understanding that the reason we bear arms to begin with is to stop government tyranny. Let’s learn from Venezuela’s example – so we don’t become them.


https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...give-your-guns

The Video Macron doesn't want you to see! This is what happens when you have no guns

House Dems Seek Quick Action on Gun Control in New Congress | Soft coup d'é·tat

No thanks, we're good!

Massive humanitarian crisis in Venezuela could have been PREVENTED if the people hadn’t surrendered all their guns to a corrupt government regime

(Natural News) For anyone interested in how to destroy a once-prosperous country and enslave the people, Venezuela provides an object, ongoing lesson. After more than a decade of failed socialist policies, the country is on the brink of implosion as its hungry, desperate citizens — those who haven't already fled — appear on the verge of … [Read More...]

Wednesday, December 19, 2018 by: JD Heyes
Tags: authoritarianism, checks and balances, Collapse, disarmament, firearms, gun control, gun rights, guns prevent tyranny, Hugo Chavez, individual rights, Liberty, national disarmament law, Nicolas Maduro, Second Amendment, self-defense, sense of duty, Tyranny, unarmed population, Venezuela

1,200 Views


(Natural News) For anyone interested in how to destroy a once-prosperous country and enslave the people, Venezuela provides an object, ongoing lesson.

After more than a decade of failed socialist policies, the country is on the brink of implosion as its hungry, desperate citizens — those who haven’t already fled — appear on the verge of completely unwinding what remains of the civil society there.
Worse, there isn’t much Venezuelans can do at this point to stop it without dying in large numbers.
In recent days, Fox News published a story that makes the case for gun rights including interviews with an exiled dissident from the South American oil-rich nation who has been watching his fellow citizens have their rights and their future crushed by a tyrannical, authoritarian leader who made sure they could not mount a serious resistance:
As Venezuela continues to crumble under the socialist dictatorship of President Nicolas Maduro, some are expressing words of warning – and resentment – against a six-year-old gun control bill that stripped citizens of their weapons.
“Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” Javier Vanegas, 28, a Venezuelan English teacher now exiled in Ecuador, told the network. “The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.” (Related: Venezuela nears total collapse as government now unable to provide food, water, electricity and protection for citizens.)

Our founders saw Venezuelan tyranny coming

The effort to disarm Venezuelans began in earnest in 2012 under then-President Hugo Chavez. Under his direction, the National Assembly passed the “Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law,” with the goal to “disarm all citizens.”
The law took effect the following year and only received minor pushback from a few pro-democracy opposition leaders. It banned the legal, commercial sale of all guns and ammunition to everyone except government organizations and entities (police, military, etc.).
For a time, Chavez ran a program that encouraged armed citizens to turn in their guns voluntarily in exchange for electrical goods. But in 2014 only a handful of guns — 37 — were turned in. The vast majority, or more than 12,500 firearms, were taken by force.
Also that year, as Nicolas Maduro succeeded Chavez after his death, he continued the socialist policies begun by his predecessor. And as the country reeled from economic malaise that turned into full-blown decline, Maduro nevertheless spent $47 million enforcing the Chavez gun ban, “which has since included grandiose displays of public weapons demolitions in the town square,” Fox News reported.
One former gun store owner told the network that he can now only sell fishing supplies since the ban took effect. He added that he can’t sell any weaponry whatsoever, and that includes slingshots. Even BB ammo and airsoft rifles and pistols can only be issued to police and military personnel. Anyone caught carrying or selling a firearm now faces 20 years in prison.
“Venezuelans didn’t care enough about it. The idea of having the means to protect your home was seen as only needed out in the fields. People never would have believed they needed to defend themselves against the government,” said Vanegas, the network reported.
“If guns had been a stronger part of our culture, if there had been a sense of duty for one to protect their individual rights, and as a show of force against a government power – and had legal carry been a common thing – it would have made a huge difference,” he told Fox News.
This is exactly why our founders wrote the Second Amendment and included it as one of the first contained in the Bill of Rights. Because they understood that governments, historically, have trended toward tyranny when there is nothing standing in the way.

Video at the page link: Venezuela COLLAPSE proves voters create their own HELL

Read more about the collapse of Venezuela at Collapse.news.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com
InsightCrime.org
TheNationalSentinel.com

https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-12-...prevented.html