Thread: History Repeating Itself “To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.”

“To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.”

History Repeating Itself

Jimmy Reed (Bio and Archives) Monday, January 21, 2013

Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Mindful of that truth, Americans should recall what Adolf Hitler said … and proved: “To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens.”

Had an atrocity like the Newtown massacre occurred during Hitler’s brutal rise to despotic power, the heartless, unspeakably evil megalomaniac would have had no sympathy for those murdered and their grieving survivors. He was incapable of sympathy.

Disguised in hypocritical outpourings of shock and rage, Hitler would have used his fiery oratorical skills to announce to the German people that such an atrocity would never again happen during his watch and that he would use all powers delegated to him to enforce draconian gun control laws. In such a scenario, Hitler’s adoring but ill-informed followers would have failed to realize that they would be disarmed — not to protect them, but to subjugate them.

Many legislators, especially those professing in ceaseless prevarications, concern about their constituents’ wellbeing (but are really marching to the same drumbeat as those in the executive branch — money and power) have developed to a high art the ability to remain in office by saying what possible voters in the next election cycle want to hear in order to accomplish dishonorable motives — often in arrogant, outright violation of the constitution, as is the case with legislative poltroons promoting gun control.

When motives are bad, outcomes are bad

When motives are bad, outcomes are bad. The ongoing gun-control clamor in Washington has as its motive just what Hitler aimed for: autocratic rule over citizens and preservation of an omnipotent bureaucracy.

Those lawmakers in Washington who refuse to march in lockstep with the president have been reduced to nothing more than (to coin a term) “circumventees.” If the president cannot coerce them into agreement, he circumvents them by executive fiat.

No wonder a recent Rasmussen poll dropped Congress’ approval rating to ten percent! Those canvassed realize that what Mark Twain said was more truth than humorous quip: “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”

Certainly America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, intended no humor when he said, “Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” And in an even more ominous quote, he said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

As the well-worn but ever-true cliché confirms, guns don’t kill people; people kill people. In societies where private gun ownership has been denied, capital crimes always increase.

Bereft of armed protection, honest people present a target-rich environment for criminals

In this matter, history has repeated itself time and time again. Bereft of armed protection, honest people present a target-rich environment for criminals, who use weapons to make their living, and aren’t about to surrender them.

Any reasonable thinker must realize that the ultimate goal of gun control is total power over the people. Such power will only reintroduce what will bring misery, suffering, and oppression upon all: history repeating itself.

Oxford, Mississippi, resident Jimmy Reed is a newspaper columnist, author and college teacher. His latest collection of short stories (Boss, Jaybird And Me: Anthology Of Short Stories) is available via squarebooks.com at 662-236-2262. An e-book version version is available via Barnesandnoble.com. For information, contact him at jimmycecilreedjr@gmail.com.


History Repeating Itself