I remember (1962) when Thomas J Dodd and Emanuel Cellar wanted new Federal laws to ban the import of 5 shot bolt action army surplus rifles and a call to register ONLY handguns.
The claim was these guns were used by criminals.
A year later Oswald used an Italian army surplus rifle to kill John Kennedy and the liberal press went ballistic!
From then till 1968 the opinion pages were filled with calls for a ban on those “evil” army surplus 5 shot bolt action rifles and calls to register ALL guns.
A close scrutiny of the demand showed Dodd and Cellar were trying to ELIMINATE COMPETITION for Remington, Winchester and Savage rifle makers.
After all, why should a poor farmer (back then) pay $10.00 for a bolt action army surplus rifle to hunt with when he SHOULD BE PAYING $45.00 for a fine American made bolt action hunting rifle.
So what is the REAL REASON Diane Fienstein is so hot to ban semi-auto rifles, something the politicians in the past said they would never do?
LOL. I hear what you are saying and agree you are correct but in practicality at that point in time I think the price difference between a Winchester 70 and a cheap Italian bolt action was money well spent.