The swastika is infact a pre-rhunic Indian symbol of eternal life! It was hijacked & misused by the nazis just as the KKK and Spanish church did with the cross.
A nazi symbol placed on a rifle (that is now wielded by a righteous man in a noble cause) 70 years ago is irrelevant.
Should my opinion stop someone from deciding what to own? Why should it?
I think what Newmans trying to say is that there have been many atrocities committed against Jews with various different weapons from different countries but yet we don't look at the British flag (remember what they did to Jews in the mandate before Israel was created as a state), the Soviet flag, or even the American flag like we do the swastika. In many countries of Europe (Germany, France for example), the swastika is banned, it hasn't changed anything, banning a symbol or a flag doesn't stop people from being evil.
I view the swastika as simply a symbol, i'm not worried about what type of relic or symbol is on my gun, but rather the people behind it. I don't think there would be much difference in the lethality of the weapon regardless if it had a swastika or not.
Also many American companies supported what happened to the millions of people murdered in Germany as well, IBM for example sold the machines for keeping track of the prisoners, FORD was a well known anti-semite, many others as well.
Owning a Nazi surplus weapon isn't going to put any money in Germanys pockets. Not anymore at least.
I understand what you are saying, and am aware of the players and their deeds or lack thereof for the most part.
I had this conversation with my friend who is a Bal Teshuva, he is also very familiar with weapons.
So I posed this question to him and he said he would take a Mauser in a minute, I told him it would be
a rifle and he said what kind because yes he would. His reason is along the same lines as you guys pointed
out here. My friend said that my relatives who killed nazis during WW2 would have taken whatever they
had to to dispatch the ameleks. I whole heartedly agreed with him and said that I would have done the exact same thing. Which is exactly what I have been saying the whole time, if it came down to it and the only
thing available yes I would use one of those weapons.
However, having a weapon or anything with a swastika emblazed on it or anything Germany
of that era is not something I would chose to own. For the same reason I do not own a copy of that
surpeme nazi-facsist's biography. It stems from a cult, a twisted interpretation
of so many things the source of that era in that country was from a person with a diseased mind.
The items created are tainted, if someone else wants to own them then why not, just like the pyramids still stand.
Was IBM, various banks and nations corraborators to a recognizable extent? Yes.
So what sets them apart? Again, it was a national government policy to exterminate Jewish people,
it was from a government that was intent on world domination based on subjugation to a twisted
notion of nationalism. It was an ideology that disposed of national sovereignty and replaced it with xenophobia. No one from my family would expect me to bring anything bearing those markings
nor anything from that era no matter how well engineered it may be. My grandfather would own something from America, russia or china before he wuold buy anything German and that is just fine with me.
It is a relic of the past and I understand very well the origin and the reasons why I shouldnt be averse to
owning such a relic. However, to me these arguments fall in to the same category in why smokers smoke and why they feel its ok. Ok, just because they smoke doesnt mean I want to, nor does it mean I want to smell it. Yes this is different because this does not permeate into the clothing of the people around you thereby leaving the person on the receiving end an unappealing scent.
But if I were to go with that argument, if I were to show up at a firing range with such a weapon how long before white nationalists take notice? How long before I am put into a situation having to explain to a white nationalist why I own such a weapon? Why would I want to engage in conversation with a white nationalist?
But from a spiritual aspect as a Jewish person am I allowed to have something in my house that displays my belief in a different religion? I am pretty sure I do not.
So I understand full well why you guys would chose to own, however I am being accused of giving an inatimite object a personality. My experience with inatimite objects is that it sometimes comes down to feel, like driving a Porsche and driving a Chevrolet Caprice can sometimes come down to feel. The performance is sometimes nothing more than illusion once the suspensions are set up comparably.