Today I was able to attend a really large gun show in Puyallup, WA. The gun show was great and, while I wasn’t able to find what I was looking for (a pelican case and MBUS), I did come home with one big question:
Can someone please explain to me the obsession, found largely in the 2nd Amendment crowd, with Nazi memorabilia?
Let me make a few quick explanitory statements:
I believe that people are FREE to be racist in this country as long as their racism doesn’t encroach on anybody else’s freedoms,
I believe people also have a right to own Nazi items and would never support a law making such items illegal.
I’m a native born Texan of Asian ethnicity but am NOT offended when I see Nazi items, I’m just curious.
I only ask because Nazi items have been at EVERY gun show I’ve ever been to and don’t understand the obsession.
I am also curious. At the Portland Gun Show there were a couple booths with a few token handguns and lots of Nazi memorabilia and racist literature.
I am not white (Asian and newly sworn-in citizen) I gave those tables a wide berth. People are free to be racist, but I believe allowing that kind of booth at the show simply gives the leftists more opportunities to slander all gun owners.
Anyhow… I believe that 2A protects all other Ammendments. Freedom of speach being a big one. I don’t know why they exist, but military paraphenilia of all sorts and quality is readily available at military surplus, as well.
I have personally never seen very many people browsing the Nazi booths at Gun shows, unless they had a few Lugers or something on the table.
Did you also see memorabilia of the same era from other countries? 1911’s, Garands, uniform items, etc perchance?
A lot of people who collect older guns do it because they’re history buffs. I’d guess that’s where it came from, but I’m not sure as I usually gloss over those booths.
Please don’t stereo type Nazi memorabilia with racism. The owner of the gun shop that I work at part time has one of the largest Nazi uniform collections in the US. He is by no means a racist. There is BIG money in some of these items and A LOT of history. We just received 2 helmets and a trench lamp from Russia the other day and they were just dug up and are in VERY good condition. The one helmet has an entrance and an exit hole(Russian Snipers:D). Kinda neat. There are a few of us out there that aren’t ignorant ,red laces in the combat boot, red necks.
As the OP, let me state that it is NOT my intention to accuse all Nazi memoribilia collectors of racism.
I can understand the historical and financial interest in these types of collections but it seems that the interest is unequally allocated to Nazi memoribilia. If the reasons were strictly historical and financial, why don’t I ever see similar quantities of Imperial Japanese items such as rising sun flags or Japanese medallions?
If I had to make an educated guess, I would have to say it is because of the limited availability of the Japanese stuff. Remember, we didn’t have many opportunities to take Japanese prisoners.
Guns and war history seem to go together. We fought the bastards in two wars now we get to peddle their crap at gunshows.
Theres a big difference between the “white power” nonsense and Nazi war relics. The white power crowd can go jump off a cliff for all I care but I love history especially WW2. Grew up with a box full of tapes about it, and Id love to have some real Nazi stuff like daggers, unit insignia, and that sort of thing. History is history, and Id prefer the US not become like modern Germany where speaking of WW2 is taboo.
Absolutely. There is a market for these relics amongst firearm enthusiasts, and WWII items have gone hand in hand with gun shows since I was going to them as a teen in the early 80’s.
I remember buying a spectacular SS helmet for $55 back then at a show, then selling it as a dopey early twenty-something for peanuts. :mad:
Still have a few things from the shows, like my Vietnam gunship pilot’s helmet with “Hunter and Killer” painted on the back.
I am a NAZI and am always on the prowl for good gun show deals. :rolleyes: Of course, we could be like Germany where open display of the Swastika is prohibited (can get you jail time and a fine) and collectors of such memorabilia have to have permission. How is that for freedom?
When I was stationed there a guy in my unit ordered Mein Kampf to read. The German post people intercepted it, and he had to go down to the police station to answer why he had the book sent to them. The only reason they let him have it was prior to his Army days he had gotten a teaching degree and said he was using it for educational purposes. If you want it just to read you can’t. Amazing considering that book was written almost a century ago, and they still treat it like that.
I think that to use this particular restriction in this particular country relating to this particular circumstance as an overall point of reference is particularly bad judgment.
Germans still have to deal with those who are sympathetic in a place, in fact the place, where such ideals brought total devastation, death and humility to the country. I think I can see their issue in just this one instance.
“Mein Kampf” was available at the Arthur D. Nickelson library in Berlin in the late 80s. It was probably there before it was renamed, but that’s when I saw it.
I saw umpteen protests there during that time. Greenpeace, anti-nukes, anti-allies, and assorted others were left alone by the Polizei, even in proximity to mil areas. Wave a Nazi something-or-other, and they cleaned house.
I’m not a racist by any means, but I purchased some nazi style decals/helmet insignia that were extras from the movie “Saving Private Ryan”,at a gun show. Notice I did not use a capital letter in the word nazi. My Grampa fought those bastards. I don’t use capital letters when describing the races of folk that I have fought against either… Does that make me racist?
Actually they shouldn’t get a pass. My first wife was German and you would be amazed at what they don’t teach their people. They are so ashamed of the past that they almost completely gloss over WW2. I was always taught that they way to prevent shit from happening again was to educate people so they see where they went wrong. Kind of like the lesson we should be learning now.
