Hopes for gun control reform took a setback when the Senate failed to pass new gun control bill.
For gun control advocates this was a crushing blow, to survivors of gun violence this was a slap in the face, and for supporters of gun rights this was a major victory. Regardless the public could expect this debate to go on until a political compromise is achieved.
Obviously both sides of the argument will have voices that are either too radical or illogical. Gun control advocates have fools who support a ban on all private gun ownership while gun rights advocates are stuck with the paranoid radicals.
Yet it has become common among gun rights advocates to use Hitler and Nazi reference as a talking point. Mike Huckabee and Matt Drudge have both compared the proposed gun control law to 'Nazism' while Google searches for "Hitler gun control" has spiked.
Just go to any pro-gun group on Facebook and you will find more then a few pictures that is quick to compare gun control with Nazi policies. What should be a talking points of radicals has become the mainstream discussion and its impossible to take someone seriously when they invoke Godwin's Law.
Godwin's Law is an Internet rule used for online discussions and debate. It states that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches. When such an event occurs, the person guilty of invoking Godwin's Law has effectively forfeited the argument.
First of all the historical concept is wrong as Hitler never banned guns. In the aftermath of WWI, the Weimar government passed the Regulations on Weapons Ownership (which banned ownership of firearms) in response to the the Treaty of Versailles.
Next is obvious; the comparison is very offensive to the Jewish community and incredibly insulting to Holocaust survivors. The nonchalance Nazi comparisons in any political debate has always caused outrage among the Jewish community.
The Nazi tyranny is nothing like having restrictions on the ownership of firearms (or any government policy being proposed in DC). To make such comparison shows ones incredible ignorance regarding the atrocity, plus you look like an ass.
When someone has no understanding of history while making ridiculous comparisons to the most infamous genocide, they have lost all credibility and their argument has become invalid. I have read well written OpEd's that advocate gun rights and listened to gun rights activists who did not have to invoke Godwin's Law just to make their point.
Gun rights advocates do have a real concern regarding the gun control debate and their input needs to be welcomed for any proposed guns laws. However its difficult to take any argument seriously when Nazi-comparison are used in a nonchalance manner.
