ANTI-GUN CONTROL GARBAGE

A lot of the political propaganda I get, whether from the right or the left, turns out to be bogus when checked out with Snopes.com. Recently I received an anti-gun control piece which must have originated from someone fearing that the new Democratic congressional majority will pass new gun control legislation and that President Obama will sign it.
No one is more anti-gun control than I am. I would have forwarded this piece except for the fact that it is full of garbage. Before I tell you why, here is that anti-gun control piece:

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. >From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.

China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:

List of 7 items:

Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.

Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.

Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson.

With guns, we are 'citizens'.

Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!

If you value your freedom, Please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.


OK, there you have it. Let's look at the garbage.

Starting near the end, here is one of the most ridiculous and absurd statements I've ever heard: "During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!" What a crock! The fact is that the Japanese, while they could bomb Pearl Harbor and overrun South East Asia, did not have the logistical capability to successfully invade the United States, period!

Now for the next stupid statement: "Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated." This one is of special interest to me since I came to this country in 1936 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. I lost both sets of grandparents in the Holocaust.

How can anyone in their right mind really believe that the Jews would have been able to defend themselves with small arms against the heavily armed SS or the Wehrmacht? Maybe a handfull, but even that is very doubtful because Germany's Jews, unlike those in Poland, were not concentrated in a ghetto. Remember, even the Warsaw ghetto uprising ended with the deaths of all the participants.

And had the dissidents of the Soviet Union, China and Cambodia been armed with pistols and rifles, they would still have been exterminated. It would be a serious mistake to believe that because we successfully revolted against the British, that those dissidents would have been able to do the same thing against the Soviets, the Chinese and the Cambodians.

I checked Snopes.com about the Australian statistics. While Snopes did not declare them to be false, it pointed out that few Aussies owned guns before the government ban, only semi-automatic and pump-action weapons were banned with exceptions made for those showing a need to keep such firearms, and the stats offered covered too short a time frame to be actually meaningful. So, even though the Australian stats were not false in and of themselves, it would appear that their validity in the gun control argument is highly suspect.

I too fear the possibility of new gun control legislation. And don't forget, the Supreme Court ruled (D.C. v. Heller) that we could keep and bear arms only by a razor thin 5-4 margin. If Obama can appoint just one new liberal Justice, that decision could easily be reversed. I just wish that my fellow pro-gunners would come up with something better than the above garbage.