Coming into the 1900s, most countries had some sort of weapon registration laws of some kind going on. Not that it meant the countries were tyrannical, but it was simply done out of public safety rationale.
Quote:
[The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.]
--- Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitlers Tischegesprache Im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941-1942.
[Hitler's Table-Talk at the Fuhrer's Headquarters 1941-1942], Dr. Henry Picker, ed. (Athenaum-Verlag, Bonn, 1951)
GunCite does not have the German version, but Hitler continues, "Indeed I would go so far as to say that the underdog is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order."
That is what is meant. You are right, in Hitler's case, he did take power "peacefully." Pol Pot not so much, but Pol Pot in fact did use gun owner lists to round up arms. Pol Pot himself didn't use legal guns, though, he just got arms from the Vietnam War going on next door. Cambodia had a gun registration system, like most nations do. Pol Pot when he took power took advantage of the existing laws from French Colonialism.
http://www.mercyseat.net/gun_genocide.htmlQuote:
Eang [a woman] watched soldiers stride onto the porches of the houses and knock on the doors and ask the people who answered if they had any weapons. "We are here now to protect you," the soldiers said, "and no one has a need for a weapon any more." People who said that they kept no weapons were forced to stand aside and allow the soldiers to look for themselves. . . . The round-up of weapons took nine or ten days, and once the soldiers had concluded the villagers were no longer armed, they dropped their pretense of friendliness. . . . The soldiers said everyone would have to leave the village for a while, so that the troops could search for weapons; when the search was finished, they could return. [104]
People being forced out of villages and cities were searched thoroughly, and weapons and foreign currency were confiscated. [105] To the limited extent that Cambodians owned guns through the government licensing system, the names of registered gun owners were of course available to the new government. [106]
I'm not going to argue that any nation with gun control is going to be a terrible place to live. Certainly not. There's many nations with gun control that are nice places to live. But gun control, once a tyrant takes power, can be very easily used to suit his purposes.
19 Dec 2012, 11:00 am
