textfiles/politics/GUNS/nazi-us.gun

                COMPARING NAZI AND U.S. GUN LAWS

                            Alan Bock
                Orange County Register Columnist

     A call from the PLO to disarm all the Jewish settlers in the
West Bank region, in the wake of the despicable massacre of Arabs
in a mosque and subsequent unrest, got me thinking about a book
I've been reading.  It's most unlikely that the Israeli government
would carry out the PLO's wishes, of course.  But we've heard calls
to disarm Jews before.
     The last time Jews were effectively disarmed by law was when
the Nazis passed their Weapons Law in 1938, which specifically
stated that no Jew could own firearms or be involved in any
business involving firearms, from manufacturing to retailing.
     Aaron Zelman and Jaw Simkin of Jews for the Preservation of
FIrearms Ownership, in a provocative but persuasive book, argue
that the Nazi Weapons Law of 1938 provided a direct model for the
1968 Gun Control Act in the United States.  They make the case in
"Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny," published by JPFO.
     The Nazi law built on previous gun-control laws passed during
the Weimar period.  The 1938 law tightened up previous laws and
(of course) made sure Jews couldn't have weapons or have anything
to do with them.  It was passed to protect the Nazi regime, which
had been elected with a plurality (i.e., a minority) and faced
widespread opposition within the populace.  It required a license
to own almost all kinds of weapons, except for certain government
officials and Nazi Party functionaries and members.
     The 1968 Gun Control Act also exempts government entities from
the controls that apply to law-abiding citizens.  It also uses
federal control of interstate commerce to convert what the U.S.
Constitution calls a "right" into a government-granted privilege-
-even as the Nazis did.
     There's another curiosity.  THe 1928 Weimar weapons law
created the category of "hunting weapons" and treated such weapons
differently from other weapons.  So far as Jay Simkin, who's
researched the subject extensively, know, this is the first time
that category appears in any country's weapon-control laws (of
which there were almost none in the world before 1920).
     In the 1968 Gun Control Act the term "sporting purpose" is
introduced, making its first appearance in any federal law or court
decision.  While "sporting purpose" is nowhere defined, the
secretary of the Treasury is authorized to use this vague concept
to decide which weapons can or cannot be owned by private persons.
     All this might be coincidence, of course.  If you want to
control people's access to weapons, which is what gun control is
all about, there are certain provisions you'll include.
     What Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership did,
after hearing people talk about apparent parallels between the Nazi
law and the 1968 U.S. law, was to get original copies of the Nazi-
era and prior laws and have them translated.  Then they placed the
provisions of the 1938 Nazi Weapons Act side by side against
provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act.
     The parallels are downright eerie.  The U.S. version tends to
be wordier and more bureaucratic-sounding than the Nazi version. 
But the powers granted to authorities and the requirements placed
on people who want to own firearms track very closely.
     Particularly dramatic are the various forms prescribed for
firearms dealers and government agencies.  Not all laws include
examples of the forms they want used.  The Nazi law dos.  So does
the U.S. law.
     Is there a more tangible connection?  The JPFO researchers
looked at the representatives and senators who had been most active
in promoting gun control in the 1960s, seeking a German connection. 
They found that the late Sen. Thomas Dodd, D-Conn., had been a
senior member of the U.S. team that prosecuted Nazi war criminals
during the Nuremberg trials.  He lived in Germany, and his official
duties required him to look at Nazi records and Nazi laws.
     Then another researcher pointed them to the published record
of the hearings held before the 1968 law was passed.  And there was
a letter to Senator Dodd from the law librarian of the library of
Congress, dated a few months before the 1968 law was passed:
     "Your request of July 2, 1968...for the translation of several
German laws has been referred to the Law Library for attention.
     "In compliance with your request...we are enclosing herewith
a translation of the Law on Weapons of March 18, 1938...as well as
the Xerox copy of the original German text which you supplied."
     So  Dodd had his own copy of the Nazi law and asked the
Library of Congress to translate it for him during the time the
1968 law was being drafted.  Where and when did he get it?  Did he
really use it as a model for the U.S. law?  His family controls his
papers.  THey haven't responded to requests to do research among
them.
     However it happened, we have a Nazi-style, Nazi-inspired law
on the books.  JPFO wants a full-scale congressional investigation
into how this happened, if not outright repeal, before we even
think about any more "gun control."  It's a good point.