The Calculus of Genocide

This is an edited and updated version of an article I posted in January of 2013 at my website. It seems timely.

It is rare for those who commit evil acts to openly acknowledge that their actions are evil, even to themselves. Very often the evil-doer will justify his actions to himself and others by claiming some over-riding superior purpose or moral imperative which supposedly outweighs the ‘disadvantages’ of the evil act, or by altering his perception of his target, or both. Historically, when action against a particular group is envisioned, (for the greater good of course,) that group is often depersonalized or demonized prior to action being taken. After all, if the subjects of your depredations aren’t human, and if they won’t do what they’re told, then whatever happens to them is their own fault, isn’t it? “Look at what you made me do!” Such wicked moral inversions are common among those who commit evil acts.

Some of those who wield authority in these presently united States are engaging in exactly this sort of psychopathic behavior. Characterization of those who respect the Constitution and the rights of the individual as ‘bitter clingers,’ ‘extremists’ or even ‘terrorists’ are an effort to depersonalize those who oppose the present stampede towards collectivist totalitarianism. But those who presently wield authority have a problem. Not only are most of those who oppose them armed, and resolutely intent on retaining their arms, but the government does not know who they are or what weapons they possess. Further, most of those who support the push towards victim disarmament are unarmed, and an unknown number of police and military members would probably fight on the side of the Liberty movement. The Left and their allies recognize this, which is why we have seen various attempt to legislate away our rights.

Opposing these totalitarian thugs are over 100 million gun owners in the various united States, owning hundreds of millions of guns, including an unknown number of unlicensed and unregistered ‘illegal’ machine guns. Obviously those who possess such arms, possession of which is severely punished, do not admit to owning such, so the real number will never be known, but various estimates range from 200,000 to a million or more. These possessors are already willing to defy the law. Of the 100 million plus legal firearms owners in these presently united States, surveys show at least half appear utterly determined to retain their arms. The huge surge in firearms purchases since the November 2020 election and the ongoing demand for ammunition argues powerfully that many Americans intend to maintain their rights.

It is impossible for those presently in authority to clamp down hard enough quickly enough on enough of these people to be certain that they could prevail in a civil war. Unless they knew who owned the guns, and especially who owned arms of military utility. That allows all sorts of incremental pressure to be put onto such persons, one by one, rather like the way a pack of hyenas extracts their prey from the herd. Over time, if they knew who the gun-owners were, the authorities could marginalize, harass and penalize gun owners for their ‘unacceptable individualism.’ The Left, in an obvious attempt to consolidate their hold on the reins of power, are aware of this, and have introduced legislation, HR 127, to require universal registration of firearms and firearms owners, along with political reliability interviews, permits, harassment of firearms owners, and a variety of other violations of the individual right to own weapons.

This bill departs from the past gradualism of the Left, and is a direct frontal assault upon the right to bear arms, changing it to a permission, which is clearly intended to target those in the Liberty movement. This bill, if passed in any part, can be expected to ignite an extremely bloody revolt. Given the control that the Left and their allies in the Fourth Branch presently have over the Federal authority, the result of such a revolt is not certain, but what is certain is that such a conflict would be ugly beyond words. Regardless of the outcome, many on the Right would lose a great deal, up to and including their lives.

Why would gun owners engage in such a conflict? The honeyed voice of the tyrannical Left is already asking, yet again, “What is wrong with registering your weapons and getting a license? Do we want deranged individuals buying weapons from ‘private dealers?’ Why won’t you people be reasonable? Guns are dangerous!”

Those gun owners who have studied history know the answer- “NO! We have tolerated too many infringements already. Much of what you decry as “gun violence” is the entirely predictable result of the Left’s policies of victim disarmament. It has been abundantly proven that locations where the law-abiding are armed are more peaceful and less violent. It is utterly unreasonable for you to ask me to surrender any more of my rights because of the perfectly predictable result of your victim disarmament policy. WE are not the people burning and looting our cities!” Gun owners know that criminals will not obey the law and will not be disarmed. The insanity of expecting the deranged or the criminal to play by the rules has been repeatedly demonstrated. This push for universal registration is not about ‘public safety’, for if public safety were a real concern for the Left, the thugs looting and burning the cities controlled by the Left would be in prison now. The Right can see what is going on. The purpose of the Left is obvious- to disarm their enemies, just as has been done by every totalitarian regime that ever took power. History shows us the dangers of allowing any government, especially a totalitarian government, to know who is armed.

Some years ago I had an interesting conversation with one of my favorite in-laws, an aunt who has since passed on. She was not Jewish but married to a Jew and was extremely upset by her discovery of the some of the information available on the Internet. She had apparently found out that there are various publishers who sell books on all sorts of topics, including explosives manufacture, how to make machine guns and flamethrowers, and all sorts of other topics involving applied violence. She fumed, “It’s absurd! Nobody needs that sort of information! That simply shouldn’t be allowed!” I calmly replied, “Really? Why don’t you tell the Jews in Warsaw that?” “Warsaw?” she replied, puzzled, “I’ve been to Warsaw, and there aren’t any Jews in Warsaw!” At that point, her Jewish husband leaned over towards her and very quietly said, “Dear, you had better quit while you are behind.”

Her husband knew, as his wife apparently did not, that Warsaw in 1939 had the largest Jewish community in Europe, about 375,000 Jews out of 1.3 million or about 30% of the population. While there are in fact presently a few hundred Jews in Warsaw, Poland today, they are but a tiny fraction of the vibrant Jewish community that existed in Warsaw and throughout Poland prior to the division of that country between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany in 1939. Most of the former Jewish inhabitants were murdered by the Nazis during WW2; the survivors emigrated, to Israel, Europe or the United States after WW2.

Warsaw was the site of one of the most famous episodes of Jewish resistance to the Nazis during the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.  Fewer than a hundred Jews resisted the Wehrmacht, SS and Gestapo for over a month with only a small handful of small arms. Almost all of these Jews died, a grim example of people fighting with no hope of victory, simply because it is better to die fighting. My uncle-in-law knew that the Jews of Poland would never have been in that Ghetto and would never have been exterminated in German death camps, had they each possessed arms, military munitions, and the willingness to use them. The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto desperately needed arms, but had almost none.

The point of this little vignette is that the German weapons control laws did not disarm the Jews on Kristalnacht (November 9th and 10th, 1938,  which was the start of the Nazi attempt to exterminate European Jewry.) The disarmament of the Jews began many years before, with ‘reasonable’ registration and licensing laws, not only in Germany, but throughout most of Europe, which got less and less reasonable over time. Once disarmed, it became safe to blame the Jews, for the Germans knew that they had no arms. They had the records, the registrations, and they took the Jew’s guns, first in Germany and then in the countries that they conquered. After the Jews were disarmed, then they took the Jew’s property, their freedom, and ultimately, their lives. This is by no means the only example of what happens when people allow themselves to be disarmed.

Time after time, history tells us that registration is followed later by confiscation, and once disarmed, by extermination; it is a routine practice of totalitarian governments. It is the one of the definitions of totalitarian government, together with demonizing their opposition, censorship and violation of property rights. It has happened dozens of times in the last century alone.

Weapon registration leads to confiscation. Confiscation leads to repression and ultimately to extermination. Registration=Confiscation=Death. THIS is the calculus of genocide.

Even a child can integrate that calculus problem, and it is to protect our persons and our rights, and those of all such children and all the rest of us out there, that the gun owners of these united States remain opposed to ANY further infringements on our individual rights. When the honeyed voice of the tyrant asks us yet again to ‘be reasonable!’ we remember the calculus of genocide. We also remember that the Left have baldly stated that their opponents ought to be sent to “re-education camps.” The historical parallels are chilling, making the intent of those presently in power clear.

We know what happens next and just as the beleaguered gun owners of New York and Connecticut have done, we say NO. We remember the calculus of genocide and we say that not only will we not give up our weapons, we will NOT register them, or ourselves.

We will NOT ask permission for our rights.

We will NOT get a license.

We will NOT register our weapons, their accessories or their ammunition.

We will NOT comply.

Anyone who promotes or supports the insidious evil of weapon registration advocates mass murder. That is the lesson of the calculus of genocide.

Remembering the Holocaust, we say, “NEVER AGAIN!”

With regard to all who seek the Light,

Historian