“As Few Guns in Society as Possible”: The Dynamics of Civilian Disarmament in Germany, 1919–55

The proposed paper aims to explore the curious and, in many ways, unique dynamics of civilian disarmament and increasing gun control in Germany in the years 1919-1955. Specifically, the intention is to consider the significance of certain watershed moments – in particular, Germany’s defeat in two World Wars, but also the Nazi takeover, which can be interpreted as an institutional, political and cultural revolution – for the changing gun regime and culture in Germany. These shifts were propelled both by domestic security concerns (including the need to introduce peace and order in the very turbulent post-war eras and to put an end to the rampant political violence in the public sphere) as well as international provisions imposed on Germany externally by the Allied powers, as a result of its defeat in both World Wars. For example, while it is the Treaty of Versailles that has been commonly regarded as the cornerstone of German disarmament and demilitarization after World War I, the most consequential piece of gun legislation in Germany in the immediate post-war era had been passed in the aftermath of the Spartacist uprising, months before the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty. Supported by an analysis of court records, governmental documents, correspondence produced by gun owners and secondary literature, this paper will trace a fundamental shift in German gun culture: from the possession and use of guns being conceptualized as a civil right of (almost) all men to becoming a highly exclusive privilege available to few, contingent upon the fulfilment of high standards of civic uprightness.