Posted on 06/13/2007 10:35:21 PM PDT by goldstategop
Until Lyndon Johnson came to the White House in 1962 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, gun control was simply not a national issue. There were no significant federal gun control laws on the books, and the NRA was a shooter's organization that intentionally shied away from any political involvement.
All of that changed with the 1968 assassinations of Sen. Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King. In the civil unrest that followed, the media found a new whipping boy – America's gun owners. The media blitz against gun rights was unprecedented and became the driving force behind Democrat leaders proposing national gun control.
Although JFK and his brother, Sen. Robert Kennedy, had been NRA Life Members, America's new president, Lyndon Johnson, was a committed gun control advocate. No president ever matched his power and his will when it came to controlling the legislative process. His attorney general and much of his senior staff searched for new ways to restrict gun ownership among the American people. This was part of Johnson's Great Society vision of an all-powerful federal government controlling the lives of ordinary Americans.
LBJ also put anti-gun judges on the federal courts at every level. Liberal Thurgood Marshall, an opponent of the Second Amendment, was appointed to the United States Supreme Court. All three branches of the federal government lurched to the left in most policy areas, including firearms.
Keep in mind that up until this time, private ownership of firearms was not in any meaningful way controlled by the federal government. Johnson's administration was the beginning of the federal government superseding state authority in all aspects of people's lives, including ownership and lawful commerce in their private property – in this case, firearms.
The other major factor that created the federal gun control movement was that the NRA, as an organization, was totally unprepared to deal with the media, Lyndon Johnson, or the anti-gun politicians in the U.S. House and Senate. Up until that point, NRA refused even to have a registered lobbyist. In fact, NRA sent mixed signals to the Hill in reference to Johnson's anti-gun legislation.
If NRA had held nominally pro-gun House members' feet to the fire, the 1968 Gun Control Act, or GCA, would not have become law. With no direction from NRA, however, those legislators simply didn't vote. And the worst piece gun control legislation in history was enacted into law.
GCA made many common gun-related commercial activities federal crimes. Suddenly, firearm sales became heavily regulated and restricted. Some supporters of GCA saw it as the first step toward the ultimate goal of ending private gun ownership in the United States. The GCA has served as the basis of virtually every piece of gun control legislation, federal or state, that has been enacted since.
Nothing changed politically for gun owners until former NRA President Harlon Carter, a true visionary and often a lone voice on the NRA board, convinced NRA that gun owners needed a powerful grass-roots lobby focused on saving the Second Amendment.
Following Senate passage of a Saturday Night Special bill, which would have banned one-third of the handgun designs in the United States, Harlon Carter got his way. NRA created the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, or ILA, in 1975.
With the creation of ILA, Carter and his small band of young staffers – talented communicators, lawyers, lobbyists, and grass-roots organizers – turned the battle on its head.
Just months after ILA was created, gun owners celebrated a remarkable victory when ILA helped U.S. Sen. James McClure personally hand Massachusetts anti-gun rights Sen. Edward Kennedy an equally stunning defeat.
Kennedy wanted handgun ammunition banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as a "hazardous substance." When it came to a roll call vote, 75 senators – among them a majority of Democrats – voted against Kennedy's gun control scheme. Only 11 senators stood with Kennedy. The dynamic had changed. At last, frustrated gun owners across the country welcomed a real Second Amendment lobby.
With his singular vision of the future, Harlon Carter began recruiting young scholars, writers, researchers and lawyers who fervently believed in the Second Amendment as an individual right. Carter often said that we would see the day when these young men and women would be old and wise and their ideas powerful.
In my next column, I'll talk about what went wrong in the '70s and how grass-roots gun-rights activists worked with NRA to fix it.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Uh....I think that was in 1963.
Uh....I think that was in 1963.
Yes it was.
The NRA was a little-known target-shooting organization until Johnson’s National Socialism (Let’s call it what it really was) ruined America. By then, it was too late to go back to the days of mail-order guns (and low crime rates). Still, the NRA has done good work defending the diminishing rights of law-abiding gun owners, despite all the criticism from those who think they haven’t done enough. No other gun lobby has done anything except raise money.
The legislative debate over the 1968 Gun Control Act began around the death of Kennedy and went on for years. The NRA was constantly in congress, often on the defensive to respond to outrageous and false claims made by democrats. They had blocked additional federal gun laws several times, until the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King finally pushed the congress over the edge.
I don’t know where World Net Daily gets its information, but I consider them an awful source. This is another article they ran that is just plain wrong.
Either Carter or Joe Foss wrote a book about the whole period, beginning in the late 1950s with the infamous CBS news story, The Guns of October. The book was called Gun Control and it chronicled the arguments made by NRA in congress. I can't find it on Amazon and I lent my copy of it years ago, never to see it again.
That “Guns of October” crap was from the late 60’s as I recall.
“Until Lyndon Johnson came to the White House in 1962 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,”
Uh....I think that was in 1963
It was November 22 1963 and we were interupted by 4th grade teacher Sr Inviolata that The President had been shot! we were all wisked to the Church for a time of Prayer! Then we were let out Early...and it was the First time I saw my stoic Irish Dad Cry!
I saws the original report many years ago on some rebroadcast. It was black and white. Definitely not late 60s network coverage. I think Edward R. Murrow might have been the erporter.
reporter - - heh heh
You know Sandy was the President of the NRA (largely a symbolic title...the real power is the Executive VP) until a month or so ago. She is a pretty bright lawyer from what I am told. But Jeeze Sandy, do your homework and double check your facts. LBJ in 1962? WOW.
It was a virulent piece about hunting, but not directly anti-gun.(though the anti gun part was implied)
At least one Carter did something right for the Country.
see #11
I am very glad to see at least a former president of the NRA talk about how deleterious this legislation has been. We had a great chance to start pushing on these issues when we had the house and the senate; now with the current leadership in both, we won't see anything except more gun control legislation. If we could just repeal the GCA, so much of the silly gun control legislation would be left without a leg -- even at the state level, often gun control legislation is written with reference to the federal GCA.
We continue to live with many bad ideas of LBJ’s Great Society. I have to somewhat admire the guy but he’s left us with a mess.
Bullsh!t You don't have a clue
You have a forum, use it.
Tell me what gun group has done anything without the help of the NRA.
Take your time.
Successfull lawsuit against Atlanta city council for local seimauto ban - local gun owners group with NO NRA involvement. I tried to keep the words simple for you, but if you need anything explained, let me know and I'll try to make it so you can understand it.
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