Rodney Timms, in his Tuesday letter, imagined that “all” German citizens at the rise of the Nazis had to turn in their weapons at Hitler’s urging. German firearms legislation under Hitler did not ban private ownership but made it easier to keep and bear arms.

Born in Germany, my wife recalls that her father owned guns that were confiscated only in 1945 by the French occupying force. Also U.S. and British forces in Germany found many weapons in the hands of German citizens – private gun owners – and they disarmed them. The cautionary tale of the mass murderer Hitler disarming the private citizens in Germany is a fairy tale.

Wolfgang Pester

Rock Hill