Hitler? Really? Mass. Gun Nut cites Hitler as cautionary tale. Says he'll fight to the death

Good read on Hitlers progression & abuses of German gun laws stephenhalbrook.com/article-nazila… We must fight to the death for 2nd Amendment #mapoli

— Norsu (@Norsu2) January 11, 2013

Hitler? Really?Hand gun and rifle not enough?RT @norsu2: Hitler German gun laws. We must fight to the death for 2nd Amendment #mapoli

— Chris Lynch (@TeaPartyUSA1) January 11, 2013

To be clear, there is no call to take away hand guns or hunting rifles or prohibit law-abiding citizens from buying them.

[float=right][/float]There is a call to stop the sale of high-powered high-capacity weapons of war designed to kill people, many and quickly, such as the Bushmaster .223 pictured on the right. Bullets fired from this assault rifle rip through flesh and bone and cause maximum injury, instead of passing through a person's body. It is also designed to shoot up to 6 times a second. Recently in Newtown CT, it was used to kill 20 children and 6 adults in 10 minutes. The same model was used in Aurora CO. In the duration of a :27 second 911 call from the cinema in Aurora, 31 shots were fired.

There is a call to limit the size of magazines to 10 bullets or less. Jared Loughner who shot US Rep Gabby Giffords in the head and killed 6 more innocent bystanders was finally subdued when he stopped to change high capacity clips. Interestingly, an armed "good guy" did not stop Jared Loughner but instead he almost shot another good guy near "bad guy" Jared Loughner. An unarmed person subdued Jared Loughner when he ran out of bullets and paused to load more bullets.

There is a call to require universal criminal background checks for all gun sales -- retail, gun show and person to person -- in order to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. This regulation is key policy to start reducing access to illegal guns that fuel gun violence in cities. Tom Menino explains in the West Roxbury Patch:

Despite some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, our law enforcement officials continue to remove weapons due to glaring loopholes in federal law. This year, the Boston Police Department has removed more than 500 illegal firearms from our streets. Sixty percent of all crime guns recovered by BPD come from outside the state, demonstrating a clear need for nationwide laws.

The NRA has taken the position of no new gun laws, as if our country has already found the perfect gun policy, and yet they take this position while pushing their own legislation in states across the country. In effect, they argue that only NRA approved legislation should be considered to become law. They have been successful, with the assistance of the American Legislative Exchange Council, in getting NRA approved legislation passed in states across the nation, namely 'Stand Your Ground' and concealed carry gun laws, most recently by the Tea Party Republican legislature in Michigan just days before the Newtown CT massacre.

The NRA is a lobby group for gun manufacturers. They want maximum profit from maximum sales no matter the cost of life. Gabby Gifford and her husband former Space Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly pointed out on ABC that "85% of children in the world that are killed with guns are killed in the United States."

The US has 5% of the world population and 50% of the world's guns. If more guns made us more safe, the US would be the safest nation in the world. Now back to the subject of this post Norsu2.

First the facts. No, Hitler Did Not Ban Guns - And Neither Did Mussolini, Castro, Stalin or Pol Pot.

Second, Norsu2's rhetoric reveals the view that new gun safety policies, even if they're enacted by the elected Congress and signed by the president, are a tyranny, and that guns ownership without restriction is necessary to be free men. But already in America, no one can own a machine gun or a hand grenade -- Americans are already prohibited from owning these weapons of war.

Norsu2's rhetoric also implies the argument that any legislation that the NRA does not support is a step down the slippery slope to NAZI Germany, an obvious fallacy that rests on the premise 'guns equals freedom' but one that is popular among conservative advocates like Matt Drudge, and Alex Jones. If you haven't seen it, take a moment to watch the Alex Jones video.

It is possible if not likely the US House of Representative is controlled by a sufficient number of congressmen who support the ongoing sale of assault rifles, and that we may not get a prohibition on the sales of these weapons of war. It will depend on whether they can be pressured by the public sufficiently to overcome their concern about being primaried by a more conservative challenger from the right sponsored by the NRA.

What can you do to support better common sense gun safety policy? The following gun safety advocates can tell you more. Watch their videos, browse their websites, follow them on Twitter, add your name and spread the word:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Mayors Mike Bloomberg, Tom Menino and 800 more across the US have a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns that is advocating for common sense gun safety law. Their cities are plagued with senseless death due to gun violence -- the majority of which is from illegal guns. Their current campaign is called "Demand A Plan" to end gun violence, www.DemandAPlan.org. Twitter: @DemandAPlan

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violencehas a new campaign called "We Are Better Than This." Watch the videos and add your name to their list of supporters at www.BradyCampaign.org. Twitter: @BradyBuzz

Americans For Responsible Solutions
Gabby Gifford and Mark Kelly founded Americans For Responsible Solutions. They are both gun owners and defenders of the 2nd amendment, and they wrote this op-ed this week in USA Today about why they've chose to get involved in the debate about gun safety. It starts:

In response to a horrific series of shootings that has sown terror in our communities, victimized tens of thousands of Americans, and left one of its own bleeding and near death in a Tucson parking lot, Congress has done something quite extraordinary — nothing at all.

I was shot in the head while meeting with constituents two years ago today. Since then...

You can support Gabby Gifford and Mark Kelly's efforts by going to their website and lending them your name www.AmericansForResponsibleSolutions.org.