Gun Control in the Third Reich

Overview

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 dictatorship made use of gun control to disarm and repress its enemies and consolidate its 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. The book spans the two decades from the birth of the Weimar Republic in 1918 through Kristallnacht in 1938 and then presents a panorama of pertinent events during World War II regarding the effects of the disarming policies. Citizens across the nation are grappling with how the 2nd Amendment should be interpreted—or even if it should be disposed of—and this book provides the perspective of the consequence of disarming a population.

Reviews

"Stephen Halbrook's meticulous research in Gun Control in the Third Reich sheds new and revealing light on the consolidation of Nazi power and the prosecution of the Holocaust. Everyone, including advocates of gun controls, should find this pioneering and thought-provoking book essential reading." —James B. Jacobs, Warren E. Burger Professor of Law, New York University; author, Can Gun Control Work? "Gun Control in the Third Reich, Stephen Halbrook's excellent history of gun control in Germany, shows that, motives notwithstanding, removing weapons from the general population always disarms society vis a vis its worst elements. In Germany the authorities tried to deal with the Nazi and Communist mobs that were shaking society's foundations indirectly, by disarming ordinary people. But their cowardice ended up delivering a helpless population to the Nazis' tender mercies. Halbrook's richly documented history leads Americans to ask why those among us who decry violence in our society choose to try tightening the vise on ordinary citizens' capacity to defend themselves rather than to constrain the sectors of society most responsible for the violence." —Angelo M. Codevilla, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, Boston University; author, Informing Statecraft, War: Ends and Means (with Paul Seabury), The Character of Nations, and Between the Alps and a Hard Place: Switzerland in World War II and the Rewriting of History "Gun Control in the Third Reich is a provocative book on what is surely the 'worst case scenario' in the history of gun control and an illuminating meditation on the role that the disarming of the Jews played in the Holocaust." —Jonathan Kirsch, author, The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan "What good would private arms do against a totalitarian state? That won't remain an unanswerable rhetorical challenge for readers of Stephen Halbrook's calm, detailed scholarly book, Gun Control in the Third Reich. As Halbrook shows, Nazi leaders went to great lengths to extend the gun control laws they inherited from the Weimar Republic. They were obsessed with disarming Jews and other designated public enemies. Potential resistance was not only physically disabled. It was morally and psychologically disarmed. Evil then became irresistible in Germany, not because it was fueled by fanaticism but because shielded by fatalism." —Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law "Even a defense with small arms against a tyrannical regime, if known, can galvanize public opinion which is the ultimate source of all political authority. That is why, as Halbrook authoritatively shows in Gun Control in the Third Reich, the Nazis-despite their massive military force-went out of their way to confiscate even small caliber weapons in Germany." —Donald W. Livingston, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Emory University "'The devil is in the details' as the British note. Stephen Halbrook's excellent and deeply researched book, Gun Control in the Third Reich, has revealed the anticipation of Nazi gun control techniques in Weimar attempts to control incipient civil war between Nazis and Communists [...] History does indeed provide important lessons for contemporary debates and Halbrook's important research should inform our contemporary debate on gun control." —Steven B. Bowman, Professor of Judaic Studies, University of Cincinnati; Miles Lerner Fellow, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; whose books include Jewish Resistance in Wartime Greece, The Holocaust in Salonika, The Agony of Greek Jews 1940-1945, and The Straits of Hell: The Chronicle of a Salonikan Jew in the Nazi Extermination Camps Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Melk, Ebensee "For Jews left trembling in their homes, powerless to defend against Nazi Stormtroopers, the right to possess a gun took on special meaning in the 1940's. In Stephen Halbrook's extraordinary book, Gun Control in the Third Reich, the consequence of disarming a population making them vulne

Author Biography

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.