"... In 1928, before Hitler came to power, a Reich Law was enacted to regulate guns. Dealers needed a license. And in order to buy ammunition and own and register a gun, one needed a certificate.
Then, as soon as Hitler became chancellor on January 30, 1933, Nazi party police did indeed start seizing guns from all those deemed enemies of the state. That included communists, socialists and Jews; and five years later, Jewish citizenship was revoked altogether. More, on June 12, 1933, an executive order banned the importation of guns. It eased other pre-Nazi era gun restrictions, however. German Aryans no longer needed a license to own a rifle. They could buy ammunition without a permit. And if you were a state employee, a Nazi Party member or part of a civil defense team, you did not need a license to buy and carry a handgun.
Another gun control law went into effect on April 1, 1938. At that point, it became possible for German citizens (but not Jews or enemies of the state) to buy a handgun with a simple hunter's permit. All limits on buying ammunition were lifted. Carrying a gun in public required a license.
Thus, the Nazi regime's restrictions were on citizenship and political reliability, not on guns per se. Hitler did not seize all the guns in 1934 or any other year. "
Bookmarks