Scholarly book presents ‘hidden history’ of Nazi 'gun control'


The Independent Institute

David CodreaGun Rights Examiner

August 11, 2013

Would Nazi Germany’s systematic enslavement and extermination policies have gone unchallenged by victim populations if the Third Reich had not imposed and expanded on the “gun control” edicts of the Weimar Republic?

The question has been explored for decades now, by innovative civil rights groups presenting groundbreaking research, like Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, as well as by a handful of Second Amendment scholars. Unfortunately, for those interested in a more complete understanding, it has gone unasked and unmentioned in most “mainstream” history books.

“A skeptic could surmise that a better-armed populace might have made no difference,” the overview for “Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and ‘Enemies of the State’” observes, “but the National Socialist regime certainly did not think so -- it ruthlessly suppressed firearm ownership by disfavored groups.”

Written by author and attorney Stephen P. Halbrook, “a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute who has argued and won three constitutional law cases before the U.S. Supreme Court,” the book, “based on newly-discovered, secret documents from German archives, diaries and newspapers of the time … presents the definitive, yet hidden history of how the Nazi regime made use of gun control to disarm and repress its enemies and consolidate power."

“[It] spans the two decades from the birth of the Weimar Republic in 1918 through Kristallnacht in 1938,” the overview continues, and “presents a panorama of pertinent events during World War II regarding the effects of the disarming policies. And even though in the occupied countries the Nazis decreed the death penalty for possession of a firearm, there developed instances of heroic armed resistance by Jews, particularly the Warsaw ghetto uprising.”

Halbrook’s book has won praise in noteworthy circles. While gun rights advocates would be expected to rally behind something that helps make their case, this work has found favor with his peers in academia, that is, among recognized legal authorities, scholars and authors who know how to assess research.

“This title will be released in November 2013,” the book’s publisher, The Independent Institute advises, including a pre-order link on its website. “You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it is available.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/scho...zi-gun-control