Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
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Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership or JPFO is a group dedicated to the preservation of gun rights in the United States and "to encourage Americans to understand and defend all of the Bill of Rights for everyone". They interpret the Second Amendment as recognizing a pre-existing natural right of individuals to keep and bear arms. They claim a link between gun control and government sponsored genocide. Members do not have to be Jewish. The only membership requirement is support of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the remainder of the United States Constitution and United States Bill of Rights.
JPFO publishes the "Gran'pa Jack Freedom Booklets" and offers videos, documentaries, T-shirts and other items. Their lapel pin is a star of David with the JPFO symbols in gold-tone. JPFO is noted for producing materials (bumper stickers, posters, billboards, etc.) with messages that equate gun control with totalitarianism. The most famous of these are the "All in favor of Gun Control raise your right hand" materials, which features a drawing of Hitler giving a Nazi salute.[1]
This group is not to be confused with another JPFO, the Jewish People's Fraternal Organization, which was a section of the now defunct, pro-Communist International Workers Order.
[edit] JPFO's political positions
The JPFO is probably most noted for its claim that the Gun Control Act of 1968, passed under the leadership of then-Senator Thomas J. Dodd, was inspired by a Nazi-era German law called (roughly translated) the National Weapons Law. [2]. That claim is based in part by the fact that the 1968 GCA introduces the "sporting purpose" test to separate different types of weapons, similar to the "sporting purpose" test that existed in the German law in question. However, Bernard E. Harcourt of the University of Chicago Law School, in discussing the fundamental proposition advanced by the JPFO, notes that "on January 13th, 1919, the Reichstag enacted legislation requiring surrender of all guns to the government. This law, as well as the August 7, 1920, Law on the Disarmament of the People passed in light of the Versailles Treaty, remained in effect until 1928, when the German parliament enacted the Law on Firearms and Ammunition (April 12, 1928)—a law which relaxed gun restrictions and put into effect a strict firearm licensing scheme."[3] They did however ban the possession of guns by Jews, Gypsies, and others.