The John Birch Society :: Truth Freedom Leadership

In principle, every group that promotes what is called "gun control" is promoting the disarmament of civilians, which not only gives private criminals a tactical advantage over law-abiding innocent citizens, but is historically a necessary precursor to various forms of "democide" (the murder of civilians by the governments that rule them).

The effects of civilian disarmament are best illustrated with one example.

In Nazi Germany, years before the Holocaust started, firearms registration laws were enacted, followed by gun confiscation in subsequent years. This was done under the guise of "gun control." When Hitler rose to power, and because the Jews had been disarmed, they were murdered in mass numbers. They had no means of defending themselves. Had sufficient numbers of the targeted group been armed, the level of genocide wrought during that murderous era might have been significantly reduced.

The right to keep and bear arms obviously exists to protect law-abiding innocent people from such menaces as private criminals and foreign invaders. However, as is evident from the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and numerous other atrocities committed against innocent civilians at the hands of communist governments, the most important function of that right is to provide a means of ultimate resort to protect the population from its own government, should it become entirely emancipated from the rule of law.

These harsh lessons of history and the realities of the world we live in are why "gun control" is most accurately described as "civilian disarmament."