Gun Control and Political Power
"Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms." - Aristotle, Politics Chapter 10, Paragraph 4
"One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms." Joseph Story (Justice of Supreme Court), 1840
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." - James Madison
“To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them…” – George Mason
Guns and power are inextricably linked.
Dictators Who Like Gun Control
Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty." -- Adolf Hitler
"No civilian is to have a firearm without a permit and permits shall not be issued to persons suspected of acting against the state. For Jews, this permission will not be granted. Those people who do not require permission to carry weapons include the whole of the SS, and the SA - including the Deaths Head group, and the officers of the Hitler youth." - The German Firearms Act of 1937
"Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority. Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew's possession will be forfeited to the government without compensation Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions will be punished with imprisonment and a fine - NAZI LAW 11/Nov/38
"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the state." - Heinrich Himmler.
"All military type firearms are to be handed in immediately...The SS, SA and Stahlhelm give every responsible opportunity of campaigning with them. Therefore anyone who does not belong to one of the above-named organizations and who unjustifiably nevertheless keeps his weapon...must be regarded as an enemy of the national government."
-SA Oberfuhrer of Bad Tolz, March, 1933
Soviet Russia
"If the opposition (citizen) disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves." - Stalin
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” - Stalin
"Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms." - Lenin, "Collected Works" - Vol. 35, 4th edition, p 286. Congressional Record, April 28, 1970 p. H3601
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." - Vladimir Lenin
"Only an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular liberty." - Vladimir Lenin
"One of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers and the disarming of the bourgeoisie." - Vladimir Lenin
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” - Stalin
"Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms." - Lenin, "Collected Works" - Vol. 35, 4th edition, p 286. Congressional Record, April 28, 1970 p. H3601
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." - Vladimir Lenin
"Only an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular liberty." - Vladimir Lenin
"One of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers and the disarming of the bourgeoisie." - Vladimir Lenin
Mao
"Every Communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' Our principle is that the [Communist] Party commands the gun and the gun will never be allowed to command the Party." --Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976), "Problems of War and Strategy," November 6, 1938
The British Empire
“[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.” – George Mason
"Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." – Mahatma Ghandi
"Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." – Mahatma Ghandi
