It is well documented that Jews and other classes were forbidden to possess arms in prewar Europe. Such had been the case for centuries prior to the last World War. Ownership of arms has always been the identifying mark of a free man. This privilege was traditionally restricted to the inner circle of rulership to which Jews were never permitted to enter. Any form of government, from monarchy through our modern day form of democracy, can only remain in power either by the consent of the governed or by means of force and intimidation.
Armed subjects are a rogue government's greatest fear.
Statutes limiting or prohibiting gun ownership by states and cities in the US a full century ago contain the language, for undesirable persons to possess firearms, or similarly worded legalese. Clearly, at its roots, anti-firearms legislation is the tool of a fearful, distrusting government. Generation following generation living under economic and social restraints breeds a slave, or at best, subservient and passive mentality which is not easily removed from the gene pool. This is not to be construed as a condemnation of those who actually lived under such horrid conditions, only a studied observation. The progeny of those early generations now living in the world's bastion of liberty must be educated, if at all possible, to shake off the mentality of the serf looking plaintively to his master for protection.