I think it was back in the '70s when there was some "Register All Guns" telethon going on and actor Robert Lansing (TV 12 O'Clock High) was overseeing the phone banks. One volunteer asked him a question about registration, and as the guy walked away, Lansing added, "Tell 'em we don't want to take their guns, just register them.". I nearly fell off the chair over the lunacy of that statement and I wish to God someone had asked him how they could "take their guns" if they didn't know who had them and where they were.
Here is what I remember from those days.
1962 Thomas J Dodd and Emauel Cellar proposed the first federal law on handguns.
1962; “We don’t want to take away your guns, we ONLY want to register handguns! Rifles and shotguns will not be affected”.
1964: “We only want to register all your guns, not ban them! Only Army surplus guns will be banned.”
1968: “We only want to register your guns, and ban “Saturday Night Specials” and small foreign handguns along with army surplus rifles!” (They got the ban on 5 shot bolt action army surplus rifles and handguns and small foreign pistols)
1970: “We only want to ban Saturday night specials! Large handguns and rifles will not be affected!”
1971: “According to the SCOTUS, Miller Decision, RIFLES are protected under the 2nd Amendment, handguns are not!”
1976: “We only want to ban all handguns! Long guns will not be affected!”
1981: “The NRA is a rifle organization! They should give up their handguns, and they can keep their rifles!”- Lee Grant on GMA
1984: “We must ban “assault Rifles, unsuitable or hunting!”
1989: George Bush bans import of some foreign made “assault rifles”.
1992: Assault rifle ban passed by Clinton.
2000: first calls to ban single shot .50 cal rifles...
2012 calls for MORE bans on semi auto rifles and handguns.
And so it continues.