One of the things that people who object to any constraints on the Second Amendment like to say is that the first thing that Hitler did to gain absolute power in Germany was to take people's guns.
There is a partial truth here, which is a critical ingredient in luring people into believing an untruth. After World War I, there was a total ban on gun ownership imposed on the German people, however; this law was never strictly enforced, and most Germans simply continued to own the weapons they had owned before the war.
In 1928, a law was passed that all weapons had to be licensed and registered, but this law too did not seek to identify weapons that were already in circulation. Where the kernel of truth comes in is in the gun laws passed in 1938, which loosened the requirements for most Germans, but made it criminal for Jews to buy or own weapons or ammunition. They also could not own "truncheons and stabbing weapons". The Nazis had already begun seizing guns and ammunition from Jews.
As the Nazis marched through Europe, they seized the weapons of each conquered people. That is pretty standard in war.
Do any of you know what the Nazis actually did seize in Germany as they started to gain more and more control and power?
They took people's radios. The only radio that was allowed in Nazi Germany was a state issued radio that only received the state broadcast frequencies. This happened in 1933. This allowed the Nazis to control the narrative. They censored books, magazines, theater and movies. They only allowed the German people to hear what they wanted them to hear.
The increasingly pro-Nazi continuous dialogue worked. People stopped thinking that there was any other way to live than the Nazi way. Ordinary people became increasingly intolerant of whoever the Nazis told them to hate and fear.
Propaganda was everywhere. From cartoons and children's games to movies made especially to create and push forward a specific doctrine.
While many Americans are hoarding guns and ammunition for fear that the government is going to try to take them away, I see those same Americans happily giving up their right to information.
If you get all your news from only one source, you are making yourself available to be duped. Even if you consult multiple sources, but all your sources lean right or left, you are making yourself available to be duped.
If you get all your news from social media? Congratulations, you are totally informed by the propaganda machine.
What should you do? Read multiple sources, including how other countries are reporting on what is happening in America. Even if you only read English, you can read Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South African and United Kingdom news sources easily.
Compare what you read in one source to what you read in another. Ferret out the truth.
Fear is a well developed survival mechanism in our species, which makes fear a great way to manipulate people. When you accept information from one source, it is always tainted. None of us can help it. Word choice changes how you perceive information.
Many news sources are trying to use fear to get you to side with them. Don't fall into the trap. Read, educate yourself, form your own opinions by using the contrasting presentations of fact.
The end of democracy doesn't happen because the government takes your guns. It happens because you give them control of your mind.
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