Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Shutterstock Photo

Every dictator knows that the first thing they must do to maintain their grip on power is ban civilian firearm ownership and then confiscate all the guns. 

No one knows this better than Venezuelan dictator and mass-murderer Nicolás Maduro. The corporate media refers to Maduro as a “strongman,” but there’s nothing strong about machinegunning disarmed citizens or imprisoning political opponents without a shred of due process. 

In 2012, Maduro issued an executive order that banned his subjects from owning firearms or ammunition and shuttered every private gun shop. Of course, the Venezuelan Army, police and special paramilitary units were exempt from Maduro’s decree and continued to obtain guns and ammo from government sources. There was a short grace period during which Venezuelans were allowed to turn in their guns, but thousands of firearms had to be confiscated by force. Today, Venezuelans face up to 20 years in a state prison for illegal firearm possession. 

Maduro justified his national gun grab by claiming it would reduce crime.  

Sound familiar?  

The move paid off for Maduro. During yesterday’s national elections, when it became clear that he was going to lose to opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, Maduro sent armed government thugs into polling places with orders to stop the voting. 

On Monday, Maduro formally announced that he had won the election, garnering more than 51% of the vote. But Urrutia’s Democratic Unitary Platform party claimed he won with more than 70% of the vote. The United States and several countries in the region “voiced skepticism” about the election results, according to news reports.

Making matters worse for the Venezuelan people, Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement supporting Maduro’s claims. 

“The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous and secure future for the people of Venezuela,” Harris said in a social media post. 

In other words, Harris said we should accept the election results and move on, despite the cheating. 

Lessons Learned 

Recent events have shown that the right to keep and bear arms is not universal, unfortunately, and that those who depend upon the government to protect them do so at their own peril. 

Prior to the October 7th terrorist attacks, Israelis had to serve two years in the Israeli Defense Forces before they could apply for a firearm permit. Today, they can apply after serving one year in the IDF or other national service. In addition, those who work or live in a “qualified dangerous area” can also apply for a firearm permit. Israeli civilians who have no firearms training can also apply. As a result, more than 300,000 Israelis have applied for firearm permits since the Hamas massacres. 

“When the war started, we knew that we were right when we said that every person that has a weapon can save a life,” Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, told the Times of Israel. “We need to enable as many people as possible to carry a weapon.”

Israel was not the only country to regret restricting civilian access to firearms.

As Russian motorized rifle brigades streamed across the Ukrainian border, the world watched with sadness as Ukrainian soldiers uncrated cases of AKs as quickly as possible and passed them out to mostly untrained recruits. Ukraine tried to mitigate the damage by opening government-owned ranges to the public, but for many it was too little, too late.  

Many of their frontline forces had minimal firearm training, which led to thousands of needless battlefield deaths. 

Takeaways

Venezuela should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is literally floating on a sea of oil. However, decades of government corruption have forced most of the population into poverty – corruption that was enabled by disarming the people. 

Everyone except our Vice President seems to recognize that Maduro cheated – by force of arms – and will now serve another six-year term, his third. There is little the Venezuelan people can do to contest Monday’s election results. They have nothing to fight back with. All of their guns were confiscated and destroyed. 

Venezuela is the latest example of the need to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights. Rather than focusing solely on how they intend to disarm us, we should focus on why our politicians – including Harris – want a disarmed populace. It is certainly a question worthy of a response.

This story is courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

29 COMMENTS

  1. Nothing strong in gunning down civilians? Well it worked and no relevant consequences against it so strong enough to keep power.

      • My part-time job is bringing in more than $13,000 per month. Once I heard about how much people are making online, I had to try it myself. It’s all true and has made a huge difference in my life. Check out the website below for more details.
        Begin here >>>>>>>

        • My part-time job is bringing in more than $13,000 per month. Once I heard about how much people are making online, I had to try it myself. It’s all true and has made a huge difference in my life. Check out the website below for more details.
          Begin here >>>>>>> https://mub.me/Vtl0

          • You are not taking my weapons away from me…I will die in a spent pile of brass, God willing. One finger on the trigger and another as a final FU! I can’t imagine this bitch Kamala getting elected but then I can. There are a lot of stupid people in this country. I can only pray that those that would steal the election are outnumbered by those that love this Nation.

            • Never underestimate the stupidity of the American voter, and in large numbers. People (particularly young women) will race to vote for Kamala, because is a black woman who supports abortion. And sadly, that is all voters (particularly young women) seem to care about. Never mind that Heels Up Harris will destroy what is left of the country, at least those who voted for her can proudly proclaim on the ash heaps that they were not racist bigots.

  2. “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” (Chinese: 枪杆子里面出政权) is a phrase which was coined by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong

  3. The only lesson learned is that even with generations of examples of why you shouldn’t embrace socialism South Americans will continue to embrace socialism because this time it will be different. Like a hamster stuck on a wheel.

    Don’t feel bad for fools. When we eventually degrade into a similar utopia understand the pinkos are not human beings. They will blame the failures of their utopia on you for not believing hard enough in the dream and think nothing of killing you or imprisoning you so treat them the same way.

    • Part of the human condition, unfortunately. All the venerable con games are still played because they work. There are always new generations who think they are too smart to be fooled. More enlightened and virtuous than everyone who has come before them.

      I can’t agree with hardening my heart to them. But yes, it can happen here. And history teaches us that when the floor finally drops out, it can happen far faster than one might expect, even if one sees it coming.

  4. Can’t wait for the 10 million Venezuelans who promised to emigrate in Mad_uro was reelected to get here!
    P.S. “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.”― Joseph Stalin

    • Yep. Election’s have consequences. If the cabal steals America’s in 2024 I foresee something worse than 1861-1865@ never ever give up yer gats🙄.

    • Venezuela doesn’t have democratic elections. Venezuela has Democrat approved elections.

    • People who fully understand what it’s like to live under collectivist authoritarian rule might be great new citizens. Then again, the people who flee California, New York, ect. only to bring their politics and voting habits with them doesn’t make me optimistic.

  5. We know countless Americans would bury or otherwise hide their arms if we were told they had to be turned in. I’d have to think that large numbers of Venezuelans did the same. So if they wouldn’t get them out now, then when?

    • You ever wonder why every totalitarian government focuses so many resources in it’s secret police and spy agencies? You don’t need as big an army/police force when you can correctly identify the ones most likely to lead the fighters, then the ones most likely to fight, then pick off those merely able to as is convenient. When it comes to violence very few people are willing to start shit even when things get really bad. Operation Trust is a great read on this topic.

  6. Of course horizontal harris backs the dictator. He is doing what she and her party of tyrants want to do here.

  7. The people of Venezuela went from prosperous to poor thanks to voting in far left politicians. It isn’t a surprise they continue to receive support from Leftist American Democrats like Kamala Harris.

  8. A tyrant dictator (Maduro) disarmed the Venezuela populace (via the type of gun control Biden/Harris wanted) then used his armed military and police to stop the voting process and then declared himself the winner of the election. The Biden-Harris admin helped him do it by fueling his power with sanctions relief & appeasement.

    But Kamala Harris accepts and equates this marx-ist socialist overthrow of Venezuela as, basically, a perfectly normal freedom democratic thing alluding to it being the ‘will of the people’ ‘who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election’ with her comments on X > https://x.com/VP/status/1817687288056303648

    “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela.”

    Now ya know what she has in mind for the United States – a ‘perfectly normal freedom democratic’ thing of a disarmed and defenseless populace subject to the threat of oppression and violence and death at the hands of government in a marxi-st social-ist utopia of tyrant dictatorship.

  9. Biden took us down a path many did not wish to follow…now comes Kamela to goose us along

  11. Nice journalistic integrity. Maybe provide the full quote from Harris, which clearly shows neither the VP nor Biden are accepting Maduro’s claim of victory.

    “I echo [President Biden’s] call for the immediate release of detailed polling data of the results of the Venezuelan election. Violence, harassment, and threats against peaceful protestors and political actors are unacceptable. The U.S. stands with the Venezuelan people, and the will of the people must be respected.”

Comments are closed.