From The Article: Communism and GUN CONTROL-Guest Article
Indeed, the best testimony to the power of an armed populace is the vigor with which the Warsaw Pact dictatorships enforced gun control. When the Communists took over Bulgaria on September 9, 1944, they immediately confiscated every weapon in private possession.
In East Germany, private gun ownership was outlawed, although citizens were allowed to rent hunting guns for one-day periods.
Immediately after World War II, Hungary was governed by a coalition of democrats and Communists. Preparing the way for a total Communist takeover Laszlo Rajk, the Communist Minister of the Interior, ordered the dissolution of all pistol and hunting clubs, as well as of other organizations which might prove a threat to government power. Rajk claimed he acted “in order to more efficiently protect the democratic system of the state.”
Poland, on the other hand, did allow limited ownership of registered target guns with a license from the so-called “Citizen’s Militia.” In December 1981, Poland’s dictator, General Jaruzelski, decided that Solidarnosc had gone too far.
He declared martial law, arrested all the pro-democracy leaders he could find, and ordered all firearms and ammunition be turned over to the government.
Nowhere was gun control fiercer than in Romania. The dictatorship of Nicolai Ceausescu used registration lists to confiscate all firearms in private hands. The government also registered (but did not confiscate) typewriters.
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