As reader TheAlaskan observed, “Those who demand that you surrender your arms, are planning on keeping theirs.”  Indeed, and they intend to use them too.

In Venezuela, the commercial sale and ownership of firearms has been illegal since 2012.  Gun confiscations eventually occurred, and now the socialist dictator is arming his allies in order to maintain power.

You know what’s next, don’t you?  If not, take a look at this Instagram video of Venezuela police gangs stealing, looting and abusing citizens of Venezuela.

Could it be any other way for the statists?

If you have two brain cells you’ve been watching the devolution of civil society in Venezuela.  Now we learn that the collectivists are going after guns.

Amid social and economic strife that threatens to topple the regime of Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan government is employing a favorite tactic of tyrants the world over, further gun control. Last week, Reuters reported that Venezuela Interior Minister Nestor Reverol is ramping up efforts to disarm the populace through a program of confiscation and gun turn-ins. The government also plans to mark and register all ammunition.

In June 2013, Maduro signed the “Act on the Disarmament and Control of Arms and Ammunition,” which severely curtailed the civilian ownership of firearms and ammunition in Venezuela. The legislation was reportedly an initiative of previous Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.

The law grants licensing authority to the Venezuelan military, restricts the possession of most types of firearms, and only permits civilian ownership in narrow circumstances subject to government approval. Those found to be in illegal possession of a firearm face up to 20 years in prison. Describing the restrictions in 2013, National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello said, “Any arm that is confiscated will be destroyed immediately … the sales of weapons and ammunition also ends.”

There are a number of important lessons from this.  First, leftists have always been about control, no matter what the hippies tried to tell you, always, only and forever.  Control.  They are control freaks.

Second, the ruling collectivists are more concerned about otherwise peaceable men and women than they are the criminals and warlords.  They know the warlords can be co-opted, but the peaceable men generally have scruples.

Third, the collectivists will do it to the people at the worst time, i.e., when means of self defense is needed most.  They will do it because they are more concerned about staying in power than they are the safety and health of the people.

Fourth, they do it when they think they can get away with it.  In this case, the people of Venezuela are effectively disarmed anyway, the peaceable ones, that is, and the military has been filled with sell-outs.  In this case, they probably will get away with it.

The reader is invited to fill in the blanks with more lessons learned from this horrible situation.  But think about it, learn from it, watch the events, and position yourself  based on what you learn.  The people of Venezuela won’t get their guns now, including those who always had intentions to do so but waited for whatever reason.  That window has closed.  It is closed.

Do you understand?

The Guardian:

When President Maduro launched a disarmament plan in 2014, and security forces were also ordered to destroy weapons seized during the police operations, the government’s intention was to reduce violence by making it harder for people to obtain guns. His predecessor had already made private gun ownership illegal in 2012.

But these actions have only increased interest in the people allowed to carry weapons. “There are now fewer deals in black market arms but that has made anyone in uniform a more popular target for criminals than before,” says Eliseo Guzmán, the general commissioner of the Miranda state police force. “They will identify a police officer and take away his life just to take his gun.”

A sad case study in the law of unintended consequences, yes?  Do government control freaks really think that laws against guns will ensure the guns are only in the hands of government enforcers?  Really?  Could they be that naive?

The German paper Die Welt reported on May 13th that construction teams associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have made at least an initial survey for what is believed to be an intermediate-range missile base on the Paraguana Peninsula in Venezuela.

An English summary of the article is here.

Alarming aspects of this development:

Note that Venezuela is about 2000 km from Florida. And according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Iran is making “robust strides” in its attempts to manufacture longer-range ballistic missiles “with the apparent aim of being able to deliver nuclear warheads.”

Citing “Western security insiders,” Die Welt claims that Iran is building the launching pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, which is on the coast of Venezuela about 75 miles from Colombia. This would appear to be the first stage of a larger project to establish a military base that will eventually be manned by Iranian missile officers and soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as well as Venezuelan missile officers who are to receive intensive training from the Iranians.

It is completely unacceptable, under the Monroe Doctrine, for Iran to be placing any sort of strategic missiles in Venezuela, regardless of whether or not the U.S. can be directly threatened at this point.

The intentions of this base are neither benign nor without severe ramifications:

The missile base, when armed, will constitute a multi-level threat. Chavez agreed at the 2010 meeting in Teheran to fire on Iran’s Western enemies if Iran is itself attacked, and Iran agreed to allow Venezuela to use its missiles for “national needs” — a phrase that should cause some sleep to be lost in Bogotá and elsewhere in the region.

The base will also, as the Hudson Institute notes, represent a means by which Iran and its suppliers can sidestep UN sanctions. After the latest round of sanctions, “Russia decided not to sell five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defence systems to Iran,” the Institute wrote in December 2010. “These weapons, along with a number of other weapons, were part of a deal, signed in 2007, worth $800 million. Now that these weapons cannot be delivered to Iran, Russia is looking for new customers; according to the Russian press agency Novosti, it found one: Venezuela.”

In short, the U.S. cannot afford to allow this project to get off the ground.   All Latin American eyes are on Obama at this point.  Will there be any sort of reaction from the Obama Administration on this provocation?  Given the repeated timidity of the Administration to recognize American interests abroad, don’t hold your breath.

UPDATE:  here is an article from Hot Air Green Room that provides additional details and indicates that the situation may be far more serious than it first appeared.