While they're neat to look at, I always find holes in the history they present. For example, the examples at the end. Germany always had gun control - not just in 1938. I'm sure that many of the other examples are wrong as well - for example Uganda was a Brit colony and as such probably had the British system in place prior to independence.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Generally it depends on how you define "gun control." For example, in Germany if you were Aryan and wealthy or in the military, there was zero gun control. If you were Jewish, having a gun carried the death penalty. Everyone else fell somewhere in between.

For Britain, guns have been strictly controlled since pretty much the beginning of time - generally based on class and social status. During WWII, they actually had "gun drives" asking Americans to "loan" them firearms for the Homeguard - even then civilian weapons were severely limited - mostly shotguns. That's part of the reason that Britain's gun ban was so "successful" - there just weren't many legal gunowners to begin with.

I'm just guessing about Britain's impact on Uganda of course, but in most of the other British colonies that I'm familiar with (Rhodesia for example) Britain imposed it's system of laws. Rhodesia kept this system after UDI - even though they were under constant attack from terrorist forces. In Rhodesia, guns were readily available as long as you had justified need - then a permit and a firearm would be issued. On farms and outlying areas this generally meant at least one "military grade weapon" (generally 2nd tier or captured) was issued to the adult males. Often, they would also be issued a handgun. For people that lived in cities, guns were limited but generally issued to individuals who traveled between settlements and as terrorist attacks increased, firearms became more prevalent in the cities. However, by that time every able bodied male was in the military anyway.

Back in the day, there was a popular quote by Hitler all over the place - "1934 will go down in history! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" Usually, this was attributed to the Party newspaper (don't remember the name, but Goebbels published it). Of course, the quote is false. Here is an article written by a friend of mine (who often used me a resource - you know when we had time for this sort of thing before we all had kids) that gives a pretty good general outline of German gun control history:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... -ownership" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The real bottom line on this stuff is that it is rarely written by historians and the writers generally miss the larger picture or "overlook" key facts in pursuit of their agenda.

See this quote:

I've seen this quote pop up many times, from political discussions to gun shows, where a friend told me he'd found it emblazoned on signs. I don't think anybody knows the origin of it, but several have tracked it back and found it to be completely false.

Guess who the "friend" is?

Dave,

Just bought in Kona and making a very gradual move from Va. I'm a IDPA competitor back there, and would like to find a local range in Kona... Where are the ranges on the west side of the island?

L