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==Reactions to the hypothesis== ==Reactions to the hypothesis==
German gun law and Holocaust scholar, Michael Bryant, says gun-rights advocates ], ], ], ], and others "use of history has selected factual inaccuracies, and their methodology can be questioned."<ref name=Bryant-HolocaustImagery>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bryant |first=Michael S. |authorlink= |editor-first=Gregg Lee |editor-last=Carter |editor2=James A. Beckman |editor3=Walter F. Carroll |editor4=David B. Kopel |editor5=Robert J. Spitzer |editor6=Harry L. Wilson |editor-link= |encyclopedia=Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture and the Law |title=Holocaust Imagery and Gun Control |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=oD46JBOhMU0C&pg=PA411 |edition=2nd |date=May 4, 2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |volume=2 |location=Santa Barbara, California |id= |isbn=9780313386701 |oclc=833189121 |doi= |pages=411-415 |accessdate=March 21, 2014 |quote= }}</ref> German gun law and Holocaust scholar, Michael Bryant, says gun-rights advocates ], ], ], ], and others "use of history has selected factual inaccuracies, and their methodology can be questioned."<ref name=Bryant-HolocaustImagery>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bryant |first=Michael S. |authorlink= |editor-first=Gregg Lee |editor-last=Carter |editor2=James A. Beckman |editor3=Walter F. Carroll |editor4=David B. Kopel |editor5=Robert J. Spitzer |editor6=Harry L. Wilson |editor-link= |encyclopedia=Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture and the Law |title=Holocaust Imagery and Gun Control |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=oD46JBOhMU0C&pg=PA411 |edition=2nd |date=May 4, 2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |volume=2 |location=Santa Barbara, California |id= |isbn=9780313386701 |oclc=833189121 |doi= |pages=411-415 |accessdate=March 21, 2014 |quote= }}</ref> According to ] and legal scholar ], the disarming and killing of the Jews was unconnected with Nazi gun control policy, and it is "absurd to even try to characterize this as either pro- or anti-gun control," but that if one had to choose, the Nazi regime was pro-gun compared with the ] that preceded it.{{sfn|Harcourt|2004|pp=671,677}} He says that gun rights advocates disagree about the relationship between Nazi gun control and the Holocaust, with many distancing themselves from the idea. White nationalist ] wrote, "When you have read , you will understand that it was Hitler's enemies, not Hitler, who should be compared with the gun-control advocates in America today."{{sfn|Harcourt|2004|pp=667-8}} ] has said—as has Harcourt—that the quality of Halbrook's historical research is poor.{{sfn|Bryant|2012b|p=412}} Opposing Halbrook's argument that gun control leads to authoritarian regimes, Spitzer says that "actual cases of nation-building and regime change, including but not limited to Germany, if anything support the opposite position."{{sfn|Spitzer|2004|p=728}} In January 2013, ] (ADL) director ] said: "The idea that supporters of gun control are doing something akin to what Hitler’s Germany did to strip citizens of guns in the run-up to the Second World War is historically inaccurate and offensive, especially to Holocaust survivors and their families."{{sfn|Anti-Defamation League|2013}}


==References== ==References==

Revision as of 23:21, 24 March 2014

This article is about a hypothesis regarding gun laws in Nazi Germany and other authoritarian regimes. For the history of German gun laws, see Gun legislation in Germany.

Nazi gun control is a historical revisionism hypothesis that Nazi Germany gun laws were a significant component of the Third Reich's plan, and that victims, especially Jews, might have effectively resisted repression if they had been armed.

Proponents of the Nazi gun control hypothesis are primarily U.S. gun-rights advocates, and discussion of Nazi gun laws in this context is almost exclusively aimed at U.S. gun laws and policies. When discussing the hypothesis, adherents sometimes cite other authoritarian regimes like Stalinist Russia and the Khmer Rouge.

Many consider Nazi gun control to be a fringe theory because it is not supported by history, Holocaust, or political science scholarship.

Nazi gun control hypothesis

The earliest references to the Nazi gun control hypothesis are in the U.S. Congressional hearings for what became the Gun Control Act of 1968. Proponents of the hypothesis posit a counterfactual history question: What if the Nazis had not disarmed the German Jews and other groups? They suggest such victims might have successfully resisted Nazi repression if they had been armed - or better armed.

Gun rights advocates such as gun law litigator Stephen Halbrook, NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, and JFPO leader Aaron Zelman, have argued that Nazi Party policies and laws were an enabling factor in the Holocaust that prevented its victims from implementing an effective resistance. Their arguments refer to laws that disarmed "unreliable" persons, especially Jews, but relaxed restrictions for "ordinary" German citizens, and to the later confiscation of arms arms in countries it occupied. They allude to the Nazis in the context of the modern gun-control debate.

Reactions to the hypothesis

German gun law and Holocaust scholar, Michael Bryant, says gun-rights advocates Stephen Halbrook, Dave Kopel, Wayne LaPierre, Aaron Zelman, and others "use of history has selected factual inaccuracies, and their methodology can be questioned." According to critical theorist and legal scholar Bernard Harcourt, the disarming and killing of the Jews was unconnected with Nazi gun control policy, and it is "absurd to even try to characterize this as either pro- or anti-gun control," but that if one had to choose, the Nazi regime was pro-gun compared with the Weimar Republic that preceded it. He says that gun rights advocates disagree about the relationship between Nazi gun control and the Holocaust, with many distancing themselves from the idea. White nationalist William L. Pierce wrote, "When you have read , you will understand that it was Hitler's enemies, not Hitler, who should be compared with the gun-control advocates in America today." Robert Spitzer has said—as has Harcourt—that the quality of Halbrook's historical research is poor. Opposing Halbrook's argument that gun control leads to authoritarian regimes, Spitzer says that "actual cases of nation-building and regime change, including but not limited to Germany, if anything support the opposite position." In January 2013, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) director Abraham Foxman said: "The idea that supporters of gun control are doing something akin to what Hitler’s Germany did to strip citizens of guns in the run-up to the Second World War is historically inaccurate and offensive, especially to Holocaust survivors and their families."

References

  1. Knox, Neal (2009). The Gun Rights War: Dispatches from the Front Lines 1966 - 2000. Phoenix, Arizona: MacFarlane. p. 286. ISBN 9780976863304.
  2. Winkler, Adam (2011). Gunfight:The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 339. ISBN 9780393077414.
  3. Halbrook, Stephen P. (2013). Gun Control in the Third Reich. Independent Institute. ISBN 978-1-59813-162-8.
  4. Harcourt 2004, p. 653-5. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHarcourt2004 (help)
  5. Halbrook 2000, p. 484. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHalbrook2000 (help)
  6. LaPierre 1994, p. 88-87,167-168. sfn error: no target: CITEREFLaPierre1994 (help)
  7. Harcourt 2004, p. 670,676. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHarcourt2004 (help)
  8. Halbrook 2000, p. 533,536. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHalbrook2000 (help)
  9. Bryant, Michael S. (May 4, 2012). "Holocaust Imagery and Gun Control". In Carter, Gregg Lee; James A. Beckman; Walter F. Carroll; David B. Kopel; Robert J. Spitzer; Harry L. Wilson (eds.). Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture and the Law. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 411–415. ISBN 9780313386701. OCLC 833189121. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  10. Harcourt 2004, pp. 671, 677. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHarcourt2004 (help)
  11. Harcourt 2004, pp. 667–8. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHarcourt2004 (help)
  12. Bryant 2012b, p. 412. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBryant2012b (help)
  13. Spitzer 2004, p. 728. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSpitzer2004 (help)
  14. Anti-Defamation League 2013. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAnti-Defamation_League2013 (help)

Further reading

Works that endorse the Nazi gun law hypothesis

  • "Simkin, Jay; Zelman, Aaron (1992). Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. p. 139. OCLC 29535251."

Works that criticize the Nazi gun law hypothesis

External links

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