When JFK was shot in 1963

[Pilot321]

GCA 1968 also brought is the unconstitutional Sporting Purposes clause. Thanks FBI, CIA, the Mob, Castro, etc!

[Noah_Zark]

I heard it was the FBI on the grassy knoll...

The Ziprecruder film doesn't show anything like that.

Noah

[JenniferG]

Arlen Fencesitter got his Senate Seat for making up the story about the magic bullet. Oh, look what I found lying right here on this stretcher. It must be magic.

[alpacaheat]

how come nobody blamed the rifle and lobbied to ban it?

Obama wasn't organizing the community yet.

[eagleclaw]

how come nobody blamed the rifle and lobbied to ban it?

Keep in mind that back then there was no internet media and no cable news shows running 24/7. So everyone got their news by the morning paper, the evening and local news on TV. Therefore back then the media did not have the resources they have now to bombard their anti second amendment message down everyone's throats all day long. Therefore I suspect there were gun banning lobbyist back then but their message did not get out as much. It also is noted that the NRA wasn't that committed into the gun control fight at that time.

[oldengineer]

That was a time when the media concentrated on the person and his possible motives instead of the weapons that he used. There were numerous stories about Oswald and his upbringing, military service, time spent in Russia and his marriage and subsequent return to the USA. They weren't in bed with the liberals like they are today.

[abner13]

Blaming guns and gun control really didn't gain steam till MLK and RFK were shot. The Young Democrats , the millenials of that day , were blaming the Gov't and protesting everything and out to 'change the world'.

[Gunsnwater]

The whole supposition of the op is false. JFK’s killing was used by the gun banners to promote gun control. In 68 they were trying their hardest to ban handguns. That is where all the nonsense language on short barreled shotguns and rifles came from. It’s why the vertical fore grip on a pistol is prohibited. When the total handgun ban failed and was removed, they just took that part out. They created the Saturday night special with a points system and instantly lots of pocket guns were no longer importable. This stupid crap led to Glock having to stick that horrible adjustable back sight they used to have and the grooved triggers on their subcompact guns. It ended mail order guns but what they wanted then as now is a total ban and confiscation of every gun.

We didn’t have news networks and the internet back then and people couldn’t get informed and organized like today, but still how is this stuff not common knowledge here?

[gghbi]

The whole supposition of the op is false. JFK’s killing was used by the gun banners to promote gun control. In 68 they were trying their hardest to ban handguns. That is where all the nonsense language on short barreled shotguns and rifles came from. It’s why the vertical fore grip on a pistol is prohibited. When the total handgun ban failed and was removed, they just took that part out. They created the Saturday night special with a points system and instantly lots of pocket guns were no longer importable. This stupid crap led to Glock having to stick that horrible adjustable back sight they used to have and the grooved triggers on their subcompact guns. It ended mail order guns but what they wanted then as now is a total ban and confiscation of every gun.

We didn’t have news networks and the internet back then and people couldn’t get informed and organized like today, but still how is this stuff not common knowledge here?

This is correct, the first big gun control organizations were focused on handguns and the primary target was the 'Saturday Night Special' defined as a 'cheap' poorly made concealable gun used mostly by 'bad guys', and as it happened was also the primary gun of poor folks, a lot of whom were black during the civil rights era which was quite active at that time.

In 1974 the National Council to Control Handguns (NCCH) was founded by armed-robbery victim Mark Borinsky. In 1975, Republican marketing manager Pete Shields, whose 23-year-old son had been murdered, joined NCCH as chairman. In 1980, the organization became Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI) and partnered with the National Coalition to Ban Handguns (NCBH). The partnership did not last long; the NCBH, renamed in 1990 as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), generally advocates for stricter gun laws than does the Brady Campaign
HCI had few resources until 1980, after the murder of musician John Lennon increased the public's interest in shootings. By 1981, HCI's membership exceeded 100,000. In 1983, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (CPHV) was founded as an educational outreach organization and sister project. In 1989, CPHV established the Legal Action Project to press its agenda in the courts.
In 2001, Handgun Control, Inc. was renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence was renamed the Brady Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, in honor of both Jim and Sarah Brady. The same year, the Million Mom March (MMM) was incorporated into the Brady Campaign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_Campaign

Shields wanted a handgun-free America: "Our ultimate goal ... is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition -- except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal."

In other words, he wanted to completely ban the handguns in your home.

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2001/libe...010723-04.html

[TooBigToFit]

The 1968 Gun Control Act was formulated to reign in people's opportunities to behave evilly with a gun. A bit different than banning guns having evil attributes, such as the thing that goes up.

Absolutely false. The GCA bought in restrictions like the "point system" for imported handguns that was aimed at restricting concealable guns like the Walther PPK, and prohibited newly imported machine guns for civilians.