I have deep remorse and great sympathy for those whose lives were taken by the Nazis and by other tyrannical and murderous governments in the death camps of this world. At the same time, the fact remains that in all too many cases, that is exactly what we humans and our governments have done to our fellow humans. Recently in the Balkans, men, women and children were displaced, dispossessed, tortured, and murdered. All at the hands of their neighbors and fellow country folk. Before that it was Tootsies killing Hutus and vice versa, on the blood-darkened plains of Africa.
History is replete with abominable cases of brutality, rape and murder.
Now I am not going to insult your intelligence and say that a handful of German villagers with hunting rifles and shotguns could have defeated the mighty German Army. Nor do I assume that any small group of armed civilians are ever going to be a match for a trained and equipped army of oppressors. I will tell you that had they been armed, as a people and as a culture, things would have certainly been different. Sure, many would have died fighting for freedom, but they died anyway, and freedom fighters and an armed populace could have prevented the tyrants and the misguided powerful from becoming a problem, and from gaining so much power in the first place. There are many other examples in world history of the people taking back their rights from governments by the use of arms.