Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and "Enemies of the State"

Stephen P. Halbrook

Nov 2013 · Independent Institute

About this ebook

Based on newly-discovered, secret documents from German archives, diaries and newspapers of the time, Gun Control in the Third Reich 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. The countless books on the Third Reich and the Holocaust fail even to mention the laws restricting firearms ownership, which rendered political opponents and Jews defenseless. A skeptic could surmise that a better-armed populace might have made no difference, but the National Socialist regime certainly did not think so—it ruthlessly suppressed firearm ownership by disfavored groups.

Gun Control in the Third Reich spans the two decades from the birth of the Weimar Republic in 1918 through Kristallnacht in 1938. The book then 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.

About the author

Stephen P. Halbrook has taught legal and political philosophy at George Mason University, Howard University, and Tuskegee Institute. He has won three cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, including Printz v. United States, which overturned portions of the “Brady Bill” requiring local police to enforce federal gun control regulations. He is the author of several books, including The Founders' Second Amendment, Securing Civil Rights, and That Every Man Be Armed. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles, which have appeared in publications such as the National Law Journal, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Times, among many others. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.