Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership - JPFO's Political Positions

JPFO's Political Positions

The JPFO is probably most noted for its claim that the Gun Control Act of 1968, passed under the leadership of then-Senator Thomas J. Dodd, was lifted, almost in its entirety, from Nazi legislation. The German Weapons Law, which existed before the Nazis came to power in 1933, was altered on 18 March 1938 by the Nazi Government. The JPFO's claim is based in part by the fact that the 1968 GCA introduces the "sporting purpose" test to distinguish different types of weapons, similar to the "sporting purpose" test that existed in the German law in question. Senator Thomas Dodd was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials and had reviewed copies of the Nazi Germany firearms laws.

Bernard E. Harcourt of the University of Chicago Law School, in discussing the fundamental proposition advanced by the JPFO, notes that "on January 13th, 1919, the Reichstag enacted legislation requiring surrender of all guns to the government. This law, as well as the August 7, 1920, Law on the Disarmament of the People passed in light of the Versailles Treaty, remained in effect until 1928, when the German parliament enacted the Law on Firearms and Ammunition (April 12, 1928)—a law which relaxed gun restrictions and put into effect a strict firearm licensing scheme." Harcourt however continued: "To be sure, the Nazis were intent on killing Jewish persons and used the gun laws and regulations to further the genocide." 16 Dec 1935 the Gestapo formally ordered that no firearm permits be issued to Jews. Harcourt did argue that the firearms laws were not central to implementing the Holocaust.

Stephen Halbrook, in "Nazi Firearms Law and the Disarming of the German Jews," 17 Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, No. 3, 483-532 (2000), asserts that German arms laws were extremely lax, and even under the 1920 "Law on the Disarmament of the People", only items such as grenades and machineguns were banned, however small arms such as rifles and pistols remained in common use. Valery Polozov, a former advisor to the committee on national security in the Russian Duma, claims in his book "Firearms in Civil Society" that Germany did not in fact have comprehensive gun control legislation up until 1928, which created the legal framework later built upon by the Nazis. Halbrook did clarify in the first sentences of his article that, "Gun control laws are depicted as benign and historically progressive. However, German firearm laws and hysteria created against Jewish firearm owners played a major role in laying the groundwork for the eradication of German Jewry in the Holocaust." For instance, according to the New York Times 21 Mar 1933 page 10, the German police searched the home of Albert Einstein for weapons and found only kitchen knives.