One thing...***#5 - When JFK was killed, nobody blamed the rifle. ****
Actually they did. I remember it well. Certain New England politicians used the fact it was a mail order “Army Surplus Rifle” to try and get them banned. Crime Control was the excuse.
In reality it was politicians, in the 1960s, were trying to protect their own gun industries of Winchester, Savage and Remington from cheap competition. Why pay $50 for a nice hunting rifle(at that time) when you could get a surplus rifle for $10. You could even buy 4 or 5 cartridges to go hunting, not a whole box.
5 years of vicious anti-gun cartoons from the Washington Post was the result. This first cartoon was published just a few days after JFK was murdered,
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblock/ClassicCartoons/Assets/21974v_enlarge.jpg
https://i0.wp.com/the-avocado.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/herblock2.png?resize=313%2C403&ssl=1
Just to quibble with your prices, the Savage 110 was introduced in 1963, and retailed for $110, hence its name. Winchester and Remington were more, and Winchester soon took action to cut costs.
