Gun Control in the Third Reich (6 page)

The Cabinet was in permanent session today deliberating the provisions of the decree, full publication of which had to be postponed until early next week.
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In part a reaction to Nazi leader Werner Best's secret documents,
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on December 8 President Hindenburg, together with Chancellor Brüning, Finance Minister H. Dietrich, and Interior Minister Groener, decreed an amendment to the 1928 Firearms Law. It was included in the Fourth Decree of the Reich President on the Protection of the Economy and Finance and on the Defense of Civil Peace, a controversial measure that covered subjects as diverse as lowering wages and banning the wearing of uniforms by paramilitary associations.
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authorized the registration of firearms as follows: “The highest State authorities or their delegates may order that in their jurisdiction, the possession of firearms and ammunition regulated by the Law on Firearms and Ammunition, as well as of slashing and thrusting weapons (§1 of the Law Against Unauthorized Use of Weapons), must be registered with the police authorities.”
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The decree further authorized the police to confiscate all weapons, which would have been practical only in regard to those persons who had dutifully registered them: “Weapons and ammunition found in a jurisdiction in which an order under paragraph (1) has been issued may, if the maintenance of public security and order so requires, be taken into police custody during the validity of this chapter. The possessor must deliver them to the police authority on demand. The duty to surrender arms may also be extended to items that by their nature are not weapons, but which in the circumstances may be used as weapons.”
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Any person who failed to register or to surrender arms on demand or who was found in possession thereof was subject to imprisonment for not less than three months, with no upper limit.
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In later years, the Nazis made good use of the registration records, and their confiscations of weapons from political opponents and Jews followed the very letter of this law.

The provision further amended the 1928 law to provide that “firearms (ammunition) acquisition permits or permits to carry firearms may be issued only to persons of undoubted reliability, and only upon proof of need.”
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This newly added “need” requirement for acquisition permits, which previously applied only to carry permits, racheted up the existing “reliability” requirement to give police unlimited discretion. Who “needed” a firearm for self-defense when the police protected society and sport shooting and hunting were not were really a “need”?

The 1928 law was further amended to impose imprisonment for not less than three months on any person who, without the required permit, acquired or transferred or attempted to acquire or transfer a firearm or ammunition for
profit.
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Moreover, a permit was required to manufacture and deal in slashing and thrusting weapons.
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This was yet another emergency decree that Brüning announced to the Reichstag with the declaration: “The president and the government are the sole repositories of constitutional authority and we shall, if necessary, declare a state of emergency if this authority should be challenged by outside organizations.”
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Implementing regulations were decreed on December 10, 1931.
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They began with the following policy statement that was intended to take the sting out of the onerous and confiscatory decree, but that had little legal effect: “The measures against the misuse of weapons are intended to keep weapons from persons who would use them to resolve political disputes. The implementation of these measures should not prevent persons of good reputation, who are unlikely to commit violent acts, from using weapons to defend life and possessions within their enclosed property.”
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The regulations stated that slashing and thrusting weapons included any object that could be used as a weapon, including sharpened spades. They excluded keepsakes and antiques.
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Exempted from the decree were the usual suspects—Reich, state, and local authorities; soldiers; and police.
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On December 12, Reich interior minister Groener wrote additional instructions to the state interior ministers. Permits to acquire and possess arms must be denied “to all persons whom the police do not find to be completely irreproachable.” However, persons with impeccable reliability may possess arms if it does not appear to the police that any and all weapons possession would endanger security in a specific district for local reasons. “The surrender of arms would be ordered only if the maintenance of public security and order necessitates it.” Moreover, members of reputable shooting sports clubs, especially those who use small-bore firearms, could in normal circumstances have arms.
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All these internal instructions softened the stringency of the new decree, but they were not part of the decree, and no citizen could claim them as a legal right. The police had virtually unlimited discretion. Legal-minded members of the public could consult the explanation of the new decree by Werner Hoche, assistant to the interior minister and author of a treatise on the firearms laws.
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On February 8, 1932, Interior Minister Groener supplemented his directions to the states. The police must not to cause irritation to the loyal, peaceable citizens. The decree did not call into question arms that would not be used in violent confrontations, such as arms worn with the dress uniforms of the old and new Wehrmacht, as well as sabers, swords, and daggers of the naval dress uniforms, given to servicemen when they retired from service. He repeated the following admonition: “In this context I would hereby like to draw the attention of the State governments to the secure storage of the lists of persons who have registered their weapons. Precautions must be taken that these lists cannot, in local disturbances, fall into the hands of radical elements. For this purpose, it is recommended that the lists not be stored in single police precincts or at similar local places, but be secured in the custody of the respective central districts.”
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Pursuant to the 1931 decree, various jurisdictions required that all firearms, ammunition, and other weapons be registered with the police. In 1938, just before the Night of the Broken Glass, Berlin's records were available to identify Jewish firearm owners. An illustrative arrest report noted that “the Jew Alfred Flatow was found to be in possession of” firearms and hand weapons. “The arms were registered at Police Station 13 on January 26, 1932.”
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Debate ensued in the German states as to whether to require registration. Brandenburg, whose capital was Potsdam and which is adjacent to Berlin, rejected registration. Potsdam's police president noted that “the order enacted by the Police President of Berlin on the compulsory registration of the ownership of firearms and ammunition” under the 1931 decree “has led to the false impression that the same compulsory registration exists within the police district of
Potsdam.” “Thus, because of this numerous inhabitants of this police district have sent me compulsory registrations.” Not unexpectedly, “the predominant registrations by the residents in the greater province here are by retired officers in possession of army pistols, carbines, and unserviceable carbines.” He noted of a 1927 decree: “The confiscation of these single weapons was usually met with considerable resistance by the owners, who protested that they had only kept the arms in their possession as souvenirs.”
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On February 20, 1932, the president of the Potsdam government asked each district administrator (Landrat) in Brandenburg to opine on whether arms registration would be necessary and effective.
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Rural districts disapproved, whereas urban districts—with the exception of Potsdam—approved. The Landrat of Westhavelland explained his opposition to registration:

[O]nly the orderly and peaceful population would register at a low rate existing weapons for hunting or protection. The unruly part of the population will on no account register arms. We would thus receive only such registrations of little interest. An evil I see in compulsory registration is that absolutely peaceful and harmless people who fail to declare a weapon from ignorance or neglect are then exposed to every hostile denunciation. By the way, I do not believe that any political group has stockpiled any significant arms in the province. Until now all planned searches have yielded nothing but old rusty rifles that are no longer usable for the defense of the inhabitants.
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The head of the district police of Brandenburg supported registration, noting that “firearms may be possessed by persons who could be violent but are unknown by the police, and they may conceivably carry and use firearms
unlawfully.”
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The mayor of Eberswalde similarly noted that “members of radical groups have weapons. Firearms are repeatedly found in searches in unauthorized hands.” “The duty to surrender arms set forth in” the 1928 Firearms Law “has been ignored despite publication in the press.”
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He cited the section of the law requiring ineligible persons to surrender firearms immediately.
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He did not suggest why such persons would now register them.

The Landrat of Teltow, a suburb of Berlin but in the province of Brandenburg, endorsed registration based on its successful implementation by the Berlin police president. Referring to a report showing that “arms have recently been found during searches of suspicious persons,” he noted that “unauthorized arms still exist in the population” and thus recommended registration. “However in my opinion it will achieve only a limited success, since many weapon owners presumably will not obey the order to register their weapons.”
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The appended report to which he referred included seizures of arms from only ten persons over a two-month period in late 1931 and early 1932. Five seizures were from Communists: a Model 08 pistol with two loaded magazines taken from a worker returning from a meeting in Berlin; a pistol found at a parade; and the following weapons seized in searches of three local apartments of workers on the same date: three pistols with thirty-six cartridges, one pistol, and a rubber hose with lead filling.

Three seizures were from Nazis identified as workers: an iron rod seized in a brawl; a pistol seized in a car; and a 7.65-mm pistol with ten cartridges found in an investigation into a shooting. Finally, two persons whose political affiliations were not identified were subjected to the following seizures: a Model 08 Lugar pistol with seven cartridges taken from a worker during a strike as well
as two Model 98 military rifles, a revolver, a 7.65-mm pistol, and four hundred cartridges possessed for self-protection.

The data of arms seizures from “suspicions persons” given in the report admittedly did not support the efficiency of registration—the only item seized in a brawl was a steel rod, an unlikely subject of registration.

Potsdam's police president opined that registration was neither necessary nor effective.
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Given this opposition by the police chief of the state's largest city, it is not surprising that Brandenburg did not decree the mandatory registration of firearms.

As an example of a registration decree, the interior minister of the Free State Baden ordered the following on January 6, 1932, an order that was still on the books in 1936, three years after the Nazis came to power:

The possession of firearms subject to the regulations implementing the Law on Firearms and Ammunition as well as of striking and thrusting weapons (§ 1 of the Law Against the Misuse of Weapons) is, in the dominion of the Free State Baden, to be declared by the possessor to his local District Office (Police Headquarters). Articles will also be considered weapons if they have been specially modified to give them the character of a weapon, e.g., shoulder straps with metal inserts and spades sharpened for use as weapons.

The declaration for weapons already in possession must be made by February 6, 1932, otherwise within one week after their subsequent acquisition.

The declaration is to be made in writing. It must contain the first and last name, place of birth and birth date, occupation, place of residence and address of the possessor and must list the type and quantity of each individual weapon. Other information may be also be required. As proof of declaration, the District Office (Police Headquarters) will issue a certificate of declaration at no charge.
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Exempt from the registration requirements were government agencies, police, military, and certain private entities, such as transportation companies. Also exempt were persons whose weapons would otherwise be registered with the police by reason of other laws, including persons with permits to acquire or carry firearms and persons with an annual hunting license.
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Regarding the authority to confiscate registered arms from specific individuals or the people at large, the decree provided: “The police agency to whom weapons and ammunition must be surrendered upon their demand is the District Office (Police Headquarters). The surrender can either be by special order for an individual or by general order. In the latter case, the surrender order must be posted as a public notice.” The licensed hunter was exempt for hunting arms “as long as there are no reservations regarding his reliability.” Having a permit to acquire or carry a firearm “does not rule out the mandatory surrender of weapons and ammunition upon demand.”
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Commercial records of the manufacture and disposition of thrusting and striking weapons were required. Finally, reprints of the decree, the 1931 laws against misuse of weapons, and the Reich registration decree were required to be conspicuously displayed in the sales rooms of arms businesses.
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