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April 26, 2017 12:40 PM UTC

Sen. Tim Neville Abuses Armenian Genocide To Grind Gun Axe

  • 14 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Earlier today in the Colorado Senate, Sen. Tim Neville (R-MGO) spoke in support of SJR17-042, a resolution honoring victims of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish government during World War I. But simply honoring the victims of genocide wasn’t enough for Sen. Neville, who turned the discussion into an argument against “gun control.” As the story went from Neville, the Turks confiscated the guns of the Armenian population, which left them “defenseless” when the Turks started rounding Armenians up and forcing them on death marches through the Syrian desert.

A little Googling will reveal the story that Turkish gun control laws “left Armenians defenseless” in the face of genocide is an article of faith among American gun rights supporters. Similar arguments are made about the Nazis’ supposed gun control campaign before the Holocaust–a campaign Politifact says never happened. The truth is, there is little evidence to support the idea that small arms would have made any difference with regard to either the Armenian or Jewish genocides of the 20th century.

This is a photograph of Armenian partisans defending themselves from Turkish forces in 1915.

Note the guns.

In reality, Armenians were confronted with overwhelmingly superior military force, against which small arms afforded little more than token resistance. Armenians had no means of resisting Turkish forces employing artillery and other heavy weapons against them. The myth of small-arms resistance against a modern military force simply breaks down in the face of this reality. In response to the regular suggestion from pro-gun politicians and pundits that could could have saved the Jews from the Nazis, the Anti-Defamation League is unequivocal:

The Anti-Defamation League “has always strenuously objected to the use of Nazi analogies to advance any kind of political debate, including the gun control debate,” said Deborah Lauter, the group’s civil rights director. “We believe it’s historically inaccurate and incredibly insensitive, particularly to Holocaust survivors and their families.”

Beyond that, she said, it’s just a false comparison.

“In no way could armed people have stopped the totalitarian power of the Nazi state,” she said, noting that some European Jews had access to a small number of firearms. “There could be symbolic resistance, as we saw in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but it would not have stopped the Nazis.”

Look, we understand that these kinds of historical myths are very seductive to Americans looking to apply them to contemporary political questions. That’s because when it comes to human tragedy on the scale of 20th century genocides, most Americans don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. We apply these events from world history to our political debates without proper context, or even a rational basis.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to transport Sen. Neville back to eastern Turkey in 1915–so he can see for himself how ridiculous these militiaman fantasies really are.

Comments

14 thoughts on “Sen. Tim Neville Abuses Armenian Genocide To Grind Gun Axe

  1. I've got a better idea. Let's send Colorado Pols to eastern Turkey in 1915, or to a Nazi death camp, and let them choose whether to take a gun or not.

    It's too bad that you're liberal cowards who would lie down in the ditch and accept your bullet, but I'm with the people who shoot back.

    1. In Moderatopia (much like Drumpflandia) "better idea" means "massively stupid childish fantasy"; it has absolutely nothing to do with either "better" or "idea".  Sad. 

    2. That's a whole lotta stupid stuffed into one grammatically-incoherent sentence:  

      It's too bad that you're liberal cowards who would lie down in the ditch and accept your bullet, but I'm with the people who shoot back.

      1. It's as if he didn't even read this article. He missed the huge, flashing-neon point that having guns didn't save the Armenians from being slaughtered.

        1. Moddy is the poster child for "the thought process unemcumbered by facts" (and I cringe putting the words 'Moddy' and 'thought' in the same sentence).  

  2. Mr. Arbiter of my own Facts Neville will believe what he wants. Truth be damned.  He has no business making policy at any level.  

    And he looks like a cartoon bad guy.

  3. C'mon folks. Cut Timmy some slack. After all, he may be finding his name on signs popping up next to major potholes in his district because he did not want to trust the taxpayers to vote yes or no on the transportation bill. 

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