Mitch Albom; Detroit columnist; scary black rifles are Nazi

| June 19, 2016

Mitch Albom

Andy11M sends us a link to the Detroit Free Press to a column written by Mitch Albom in which he points out that Hitler and his Nazis created the first scary black rifles;

The assault rifle traces back to Nazi Germany. Did you know that? The Germans were trying to develop a more effective weapon for their soldiers, one that rivaled the firepower of a submachine gun but had better accuracy in more confined spaces.

Kill faster, closer in. That was the idea. Adolf Hitler, according to some accounts, even named the weapon: Sturmgewehr. It means “storm rifle.”

Tuck that somewhere in the back of your mind. The first people to really utilize this weapon were Nazis. Not our forefathers. Not Thomas Jefferson. Not George Washington.

Yeah, the Nazis also created the Volkswagon – they even named it the “People’s car”, but I’ll bet it doesn’t stop Albom from driving one to get his daily fat-free, glutten-free latte a lait. So, what exactly is his point? Well, it’s that defending the availability of scary-looking black rifles isn’t American – it’s 1930s National Socialist to want to own a scary-looking black rifle.

In fact, you might ask, why even write about this issue at all? You’re just asking for abuse. Don’t believe me? Wait a few hours and check the comments. I’ll be called every name in the book, a moron, a bleeding heart, ignorant of firearms, many other juicy words.

So why do it? Because, like many of you, my heart breaks watching these families bury their children and cry out for some kind of reform. And I guess I’d rather ignore criticism than ignore their tears.

Yeah, the truth is that he just wants the attention that the Kuntzmans and the Steinbergs are getting this week for making outrageous claims about guns, gun owners and gun dealers. Albom is just another attention whore whose career is in the crapper and he thinks he can make a name for himself by claiming assault weapons are Nazi, hinting that those of us who own one are Nazis, too. And it’s all for the children.

Category: Politics

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HMCS(FMF) ret.

Albom is another one of those media attention whores who is a graduate of the Bob Costas School of Sports and Public Opinion. Assclown likes to pontificate and postulate about ethics and other shit while acting like a sports reporter.

HMCS(FMF) ret.

Dude probably doesn’t even know what a jock strap looks like… or has never worn one.

Sgt K

He’s been sniffing jocks all his life.

Green Thumb

Yeah.

The only shot this turd has evr fired is right into his boyfriend’s mouth.

What a tool.

The Other Whitey

I disagree. I don’t think he’s ever been the pitcher.

26Limabeans

He wears one on his head in the privacy of his home

desert

This pussy must think like Rosy the fat ass…who told Tom Selig they should have revolutionary rifles….there is no end to complete INSANITY He probably thinks a jock strap is a “thong” the women wear, you know, the “scary black ones”

A Proud Infidel®™

HEY BITCH, I mean Mitch Albom, Get this fact straight, the Nazis also did everything they could to disarm everyone they could and look at just how healthy that was for Jewish people and anyone else that dissented with the Nazis’ agenda. Look at how successful Gun Control Laws have been at reducing crime and violence in just Chicago and Mexico but alas, I’m just preaching to the choir here. Albom is just another hand-wringing snot-spined thumbsucking booger-eating wonder-WUSS.

The Other Whitey

They didn’t actually disarm everyone, API. They registered every firearm, then they confiscated guns from everybody the Nazis didn’t want to be armed. Party members in good standing who jacked off to Der Führer’s picture three times a day could have all the guns they wanted. But Jews? “Threat to public safety,” they said. Same deal for any suspected political dissidents, business owners who didn’t toe the Nazi line, and anybody else the Gestapo didn’t like.

UpNorth

“But Jews? “Threat to public safety,” they said. Same deal for any suspected political dissidents, business owners who didn’t toe the Nazi line, and anybody else the Gestapo didn’t like”. Sounds exactly like what the Progressives want for the US.

Grimmy

Where the fuck do you think the domestic enemy get their ideas?

When considering the motivations and desires of our common enemy, it’s best to keep Blair’s Law in mind:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Blair%27s%20Law

68W58

Stay off the Autobah…er, interstates Albom!

68W58

“Kill faster, closer in. That was the idea.”

Indeed, those fascistic Union Cavalry troopers with their lever action Henry rifles-the very idea!

rgr769

Not to nit pick, but Union Cavalry troopers were never issued Henry rifles during or after the Civil War. Spencer rifles and carbines were the only government issued repeaters. (Contrary to popular belief, only the Spencer rifles were present at the Gettysburg battle). Henrys were strictly private purchase, as the Army ordinance department found them unsuitable for military service. (Some Union Army color guard and other units were armed with private purchased Henrys.) But the sentiment is correct. Warfare is frequently the “genius of invention,” irrespective of ideology.

68W58

It looks like two regiments-one from Indiana and one from Illinois-had significant numbers of Henry rifles at Franklin. I don’t know if they were privately purchased or bought at government expense, but some reports state that they were put to good effect by the Union troops.

rgr769

Some unit commanders privately purchased Henrys. But there were no U.S. government contracts for them. Marcot’s book on all Spencer firearms contains a copy of the Ordinance Dept. letter rejecting them for gov’t service. The Army Ordinance Department had a strong prejudice against repeating rifles. They believed troops would shoot up their ammunition too rapidly in the heat of battle. Indeed, the Spencer carbines and rifles in the inventory after the war were replaced by single shot Sharps carbines (converted to metallic cartridges) and Springfield model 1873 carbines and rifles.

Ex-PH2

Just a question: didn’t the tommy gun appear well ahead of other rapid-fire guns?

68W58

Why yes, person with real factual knowledge of the issue, it did.

Though we could probably point to the Lewis gun or similar WWI weapons as the prototype (I am open to someone else providing an earlier example, this is just one I am familiar with).

Hondo

If you’re talking the Light Infantry Pattern version of the Lewis, you arguably have a point. While it was heavy (17 lbs), it was in the same weight class as the BAR (the M1918 weighed about 16 lbs).

The only quibble with calling either an assault rifle is that it uses a full-size high-power cartridge (British .303 or US 30-06) vice a lesser powered version. In fact, the BAR M1918 was also selective fire and magazine-fed (the Lewis LIP used a pan magazine). Both, however, were likely a bear to control when firing full auto.

I’m thinking that the BAR likely has the best claim to the original “assault rifle prototype” design. But the Lewis LIP works for me too.

Hondo

Addendum: if one accepts the BAR as the modern assault rifle prototype, well, I guess Alborn needs to do some homework. Last time I checked, Browning was born in Utah.

In fact, it appears a number of different nations were working on the assault rifle concept (reduced-power version of an automatic weapon for infantry use during close combat) circa 1918.

http://world.guns.ru/assault-e.html

All Alborn’s article proves is that he’s an ignorant partisan hack who has his head firmly inserted up his 4th point of contact. With the StG 44, the Nazis took a widely-held concept (e.g., a select-fire, magazine-fed infantry weapon to be used in the assault, with the initial US exemplar and arguable first implementation being the BAR) which was being investigated by various militaries worldwide prior to World War II and were “first to market” in terms of successful widespread adoption with a mid-power cartridge.

DonM

Schmeisser developed the MP-18 for Imperial Germany, and it was used extensively during WWII, particularly during the “Peace Offensive” in 1918.

The US fielded the M-1 Carbine with an intermediate cartridge and 10 and 15 round magazines. It was developed as full automatic, but fielded as semi-automatic. The M-2 was fielded in October of 1944, with full automatic, and 30 round magazines.

Kilo3/7

Chauchat?

Although I believe the operating system was at least partially based on Browning’s patent. I could be wrong, it’s been a while.

The Other Whitey

Only the French could come up with something that shitty.

Ex-PH2

In fact, the Gatling gun was developed in 1862 and used the the Civil War, FAR AHEAD OF MITCH ALBORN’S CLAIM that the Nazix developed rapid-fire weapons.

MITCH ALBORN IS AN IGNORANT TWIT WHO MAKES UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS ABOUT THINGS.

Casey

The Thompson sub-machine gun was just that; a sub-machine gun. Like other similar weapons it used pistol ammo. Other examples would include the MP40 and the PPSh-41.

The StG-44, like the AK-47 used intermediate ammo. According to some authorities, automatic weapons such as the M-14 and the FN FAL aren’t assault rifles as they use a full rifle round.

But, no, the SMG is not the same as an assault rifle.

Luddite4change

The MP-44 was actually developed behind the backs of Hitler and the German leadership who didn’t want more resources devoted to new rifles after the failure of the G-43 (their response to the M1 Garrand); hence, the designation MP for machine pistol.

Hondo

The round used by the StG 44 was referred to as the “Pistolenpatrone 43” as well as the “7.9mm Kurtz”.

In English, “Pistolenpatrone” translates as “pistol cartridge”. Thus, it seems to me that if one includes the StG 44 as an assault weapon one has to allow weapons that fire pistol cartridges. I’m thinking that makes the Thompson’s claim of being as the “first assault weapon” quite valid, since both weapons used pistol cartridges.

Last time I checked, Thompson wasn’t a Nazi either. He was a US Army officer.

The Other Whitey

Personally, I’d rather have an M1928A1 Thompson than a Sturmgewehr. The Tommygun is heavy and shorter-ranged, but it also works every time and ain’t gonna break just because you looked sideways at it. And they were both expensive as all hell.

RGR 4-78

Did not the M1 carbine pre date the Sturmgewehr?

Hondo

Yes, it did. But that’s not really a good comparison.

The M1 Carbine was in service before the StG 44 – it entered service in July 1942. However, the M1 Carbine was semi-auto only. The M2 version (select-fire, semi- and full auto) didn’t enter service until Oct 1944.

The StG 44 postdated the M1, but appears to have predated the M2.

RGR 4-78

Thanks.
Being that it has been sold in a semi-auto version for over 50 years adds it to the list of scarry rifles, just may not be black enough to qualify though.

DonM

They do make black plastic stocks for the M-1 carbine these days.

DonM

Schmeisser developed the MP-18 for Imperial Germany, and it was used extensively during WWII, particularly during the “Peace Offensive” in 1918.

Ex-PH2

‘…just another attention whore whose career is in the crapper….’

Truer words will never be put in print by these attention whores. They can’t look themselves in the mirror. It would be too painful.

Hack Stone

Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian. By this guy’s logic, that makes anyone who does not enjoy a good steak a Nazi.

The Other Whitey

Hitler was also notorious for his sweet tooth. Anybody who likes cookies must be a Nazi!

Hitler was very fond of dogs. Dog owners/lovers must be Nazis!

Heinrich Himmler and Ernst Rohm were promiscuous homosexuals. Gay men must be Nazis!

Hitler was big on animal rights legislation. PETA, ASPCA, and the Humane Society are Nazis!

The Space Shuttle was developed directly from the Silvervogel–a bomber intended to drop nukes on the USA from orbit. All of our rocketry was developed directly from Von Braun’s V-2 IRBM and later V-5 multi-stage ICBM. NASA are Nazis!

Hitler was a (not very good) art student and a (not very good) artist. My God, every high school and college in America has Nazi programs!

Poetrooper

Those evil Nazi bastards also invented the first jet fighter. I’m sure Mitch will deplore America’s use of those as well.

Hack Stone

Twice in recent days I read on line that Adolf Hitler was credited with inventing the inflatable sex doll, in order to prevent German soldiers from contracting STDs from French prostitutes. My philosophy is that if it is on the Internet, it must be true, but does anyone here know whether it is true? I wouldn’t want Daniel Bernath to live with the burden is supporting the Nazis the next time that he needs to relieve some stress.

The Other Whitey

Dear Jesus, BRAIN BLEACH!!!!

Why would you bring that up, Hack, WHY??!!!

Mother of God, what the hell’s wrong with you? Please seek help, immediately! A healthy mind doesn’t contemplate such horrors!

Poetrooper

You know, you may be on to something, Hack. Look at that long face on Ablom:

If John Kerry and an inflatable sex doll had a kid…

Hondo

PT: if you’re right, the mother was obviously smarter than either father or son.

Poetrooper

And she was literally an air head…

MSG Eric

Damn that’s funny.

Just An Old Dog

I have looked into this but it never really got off the ground.

A Proud Infidel®™

Adolf Hitler was also a teetotaler, thus anti-drinking types are NAZIS as well.

nbcguy54ACTUAL

At least the Nazis were kinda good at the things they did.

Too bad the same can’t be said of Albom…

Todd Davis

I dont agree with his politics but his book the 5 people you meet in heaven. Is one of the best modern books I have read. I challenge anyone who reads it or sees the movie not to be moved. My. 2 cents

HMC Ret

It is a good book and movie. Him? Not so much.

Todd Davis

Totally agree

Just An Old Dog

It was a great book. Looking back through it yopu can tell by the chapter he wrote on Eddie being in WW2 he knew nothing aboutthe military.
He also wrote a book called “The first Phone call from Heaven” where he shows some ignorance when describing about how an F-16 pilot was court-martialed after an accident.

Todd Davis

Yeah I had guessed that the WW2 part didn’t quite add up . But I thought the Captain taught Eddie a great lesson in sacrifice. I haven’t read the other book about the phone . I only read 5 people. It was what I needed at that point in my life

ceefour

Would that mitchie could tell us what he isthinking when he feels the first stinging of the razor as it starts the cut through his neck and he is trying to scream (really difficult,mitchie, when your trachea is cut and when you try to breath it makes a honking sound)for his mommy as hr fills his pink panties with stinky brown stuff. A weapon for your,and your family’s defense is your friend..the A rab throat cutters are NOT.

My, My, My

What a moronic-bleeding heart-firearms ignoramus.

Whew, I feel better now.

Claw

I’m thinking that Little Bitch Mitch and Gerkin KUNTZman need to have a face to ass meeting and compare tampon sizes.

Sparks

Mitch Albom looks like he works balls in the Detroit Free Press, all sex rest room. He’d probably break his fingers if he fired a Glock and dislocate his shoulder with a really scary Red Ryder. He tries to fart but makes a queef instead.

Dustoff

By Mr. Albom’s logic, we should indict Henry Ford for mass producing the automobile. My point ?…Car Bombs. It’s not the “tool” pecker head, it’s the ideology.

B Woodman

Don’t remember where I first heard/read this, but it fits, “The mind is the only true weapon. Everything else is just a tool.”

MSG Eric

I believe Rambo said that in First Blood Part 2, or close to it. Not sure where else it was said though, that I can remember.

The Other Whitey

The Bergman MP-44/StG-44 was a milestone in firearm development indeed. With its magazines that were only a small step above aluminum foil and could be rendered inoperable by squeezing too tight. And the rifle itself was so flimsy, as demonstrated in a postwar evaluation by the British, that leaning it against a wall and knocking it over could and would render the rifle inoperable and quite possibly irreparable. And like most German automatics before the G-3 (which is really more Spanish than German), it REALLY didn’t like to get dirty. Sure, it was cool–when it even worked. And contrary to popular myth, Mikhail Kalashnikov didn’t copy it to make the AK. There are superficial similarities, but the AK has more in common with the M1 Garand (its bolt was copied directly from that of the M1). What similarities do exist are coincidental; Kalashnikov was a smart man, an excellent mechanical engineer, and was much better at coming up with guns that worked than his kraut counterparts. He also knew when to steal something good off of American designs, something else the krauts sucked at. The Sturmgewehr was just another logical step in a long evolutionary line of personal automatic weapons. Even before WWI, armies and gunsmiths sought to make a machine gun’s firepower more portable and easier to use. The nightmare that was WWI lit a fire under the process, as the need for a “trench broom” became obvious. SMGs were the first step, but we’re only useful at close range (as the SEALs in Grenada found out the hard way). Weapons like the Lewis, Bren, and BAR had range but were too heavy to be issued to everyone as rifles, so they became Squad Automatic Weapons. The Sturmgewehr and others like it were/are an attempt to strike a compromise between the SAW and SMG, while still being useful and economical as a rifle. Opinions differ as far as how good the compromise actually is, since full-auto operation with one wastes ammo at anything beyond spitting distance, and requires extra training to use with any kind of effectiveness. Albom’s ignorance… Read more »

MSG Eric

War is amazingly good for technological advancement of all kinds.

Interesting points about Kalashnikov, I heard something about him taking from the Stg-44, but I’m not a gun expert or history superfreak in that regard.

AW1Ed

The TAH choir is getting a workout today.

“Him, him, fuck him!”

Blaster

Have any of you ever noticed how everytime the liberals disagree with something/anything, they try to compare it to the Nazis.

However, they ALWAYS leave out one little thing,, Hitler and the Nazi party was the liberals in Geemany at the time.

You’d think that in all of the research they do to write the BS they call stories, that they would have come across that little fact.

Hondo

Godwin’s Law in action.

The one making the comparison virtually always does so because they know they cannot successfully debate the matter at hand using fact and logic, and does so as an oblique form of appeal for emotion to override logic and fact.

MSG Eric

Hmm, I disagree you Nazi….

Hondo

4Q2US0B. (smile)

MSG Eric

Lol. Did you get that as your license plate # yet?

Hondo

Haven’t tried. Most DMVs have zero sense of humor about, well, anything these days when it comes to license plates. Can’t risk offending someone, you know.

Mark RM1 USN ret

I love it when a asshat/library like Bitch Albom attempts to be a military historian. BMW/Porsche (King Tiger tank anyone?) Bayer ( besides aspirin, they also provided the poison gas for the “Final Solution “. I bet he drives a German car. What a classic bugger eating/cum sucking turd.

Perry Gaskill

Albom probably drives a Prius to piss everybody off in Detroit.

Also, Zyclon B was manufactured by a subsidiary of I.G. Farben. Just sayin’

19D2OR4-Smitty

They also made fighters occassionally;)

B Woodman

So now we have a third entrant for the “First Annual ‘Gash’ Cuntzman Propagandist Presstitute Award for 2016”.

FatCircles0311

Remember when journalists in the United States reported facts and weren’t the story?

Pepperidge Farm Remembers.

TankBoy

Mitch is an idiot. He’s a good author, but his opinion pieces in the Free Press (Democrat Party Mouthpiece) are dumb and his afternoon drive talkshow is horrible. Really, really bad. He habitually talks out of his ass on subjects he has zero knowledge of.

UpNorth

“He habitually talks out of his ass on subjects he has zero knowledge of”. The prototype spokesjerk for the Progressive Party, which ruined Detroit.

Wireman611

They are attention whores. If you ignore them they will get even more outrageous until they hit the point of ridiculous.

Hondo

Until?

Blaster

Meanwhile, while these jack-wagons have the country focused on gun control, Hildabeast continues to skirt the law even though she is obviously a felon, Iran continues to work toward a nuclear weapon due to the deal mead with OUR leaders and ISIS continues to be a global threat.

Trump is not the guy that I wanted as president to begin with, but someone, PLEASE tell me that Hilery will not be our next CIC. PLEASE! There is no way Trump can be as bad as the idiots on the left, and that makes him 100% better

Blaster

Made, not mead

Ex-PH2

Alborn is a German surname.

I wonder if he knows that.

2/17 Air Cav

The Left likes certain negative associations. They wield these things like, well, scary black assault weapons. If you regard queerhood as a perversion, you are a homophobe. If you favor the 2nd Amendment’s affirmative right for citizens to bear arms, you are a gun nut, a sap being manipulated by the NRA, or worse: a proponent of mass killings. Calling people Nazis and fascists is a tad old hat but it does get the point across. Don’t want to be called a Nazi? Then get in line. I wonder if Mitch Abomb knows the backstory on how we came to put a man on the moon?

F@ckyocouch

Wait. Did Captain Numbnuts forget or just not read the part where the Sturmgewehr, before named such, was waved under Hitler’s nose 3 separate times and SHOT DOWN? That’s right. Prototypes had to be snuck into trials and pre-series production. The little guy HATED the round and the rifle till he asked a group of Eastern Front command types what they needed more of to secure that front. This rifle was only THEN accepted by Hitler.

Foxbat40

The Nazis also liked gun control.

ex-OS2

Cocksucker.

IDC SARC

All four gun control bills failed to clear the senate.

Ex-PH2

Okay. Do you feel better now? You can breathe again?

As I said elsewhere, we need to all be more aware of our surroundings now than we have ever been before. If I go to Walmart, I’d prefer to not have to worry about someone with a hair up his backside starting a massacre over imagined wrongs. But should it happen, I will have to McGyver a way to stop him.

IDC SARC

My breathing wasn’t altered in either depth or rate, I was just posting that the bills whiffed.

Ex-PH2

<3 <3 <3

MrFace

First off; Godwins Law.

Secondly, Well shit, I guess those Hiram Maxim Water-cooled machine guns means anyone using a HMG is a Jewish Sympathizer.