Theory vs reality: Hitler and guns

The theory:

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson suggests the Holocaust would have been “greatly diminished” if German Jews had been armed with guns.

[…]

The retired neurosurgeon says “the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed.”

The candidate says “there is a reason that these dictatorial people take the guns first.”

The reality:

• Weimar Germany had tough gun laws banning private ownership of firearms, and the government engaged in confiscation. The Nazi Weapon Law of 1938 relaxed firearms ownership, removing controls on rifles, shotguns and ammunition.

• 200,000 Polish Jews had guns, and also tanks, but that didn’t stop the Nazis.

• A citizen with a gun who assassinated Ernst vom Rath was one of the pretexts the Nazis used for Kristallnacht and the Final Solution.