Gold and guns are becoming politically entangled, and a connecting word is often “confiscation.”

The prospect of gun confiscation is fueling discussion of FDR’s 1933 nationalization of gold ownership, which resembled Hugo Chavez’s nationalization of Venezuelan gold mines in 2011. FDR did so by executive order; Chavez did so by decree. If guns in America are also ‘nationalized’, then the 1933 gold grab may have insights on how the state could proceed and how American public may react.

 

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 1933 GOLD HEIST

Roosevelt was inaugurated as President on March 4th, 1933. He immediately moved to outlaw the private ownership of gold. He proceeded in several steps.