[at-l] OT...Re3: [at-l] Gun story/MachineGuns

[mfuller@somtel.com (Malcolm Fuller)]

> Sure you do, Kahley - Just remember the original Million
> Mom March - it was a bust, too.  I wasn't here for it - but
> my daughter told me about it and as a "demonstration", it 
> was a laughing-stock.  

I've posted the details elsewhere. It's not pretty.

> Since Sept 11, the gun control groups have lost a lot of
> support - where's the surprise that it would be a washout?

Actually, gun control as a movement has been losing steam
for several years now. It's been said, and I agree, that
the popularity of gun control in America runs in approximately
thirty-year cycles. Consider the highlights:

1870s -- Laws which disarmed blacks during Reconstruction.
1900s -- Laws in urban areas targetted toward disarming blacks,
         Italians and European Jews (the most famous example
         being New York City's Sullivan Law).
1930s -- The National Firearms Act of 1934, brought on by
         Prohibition-era crime and the Red Scare.
1960s -- The Gun Control Act of 1968 that clamped down on
         mailorder guns, which was the most popular method
         for blacks (militant and otherwise) to acquire arms.

Quick quiz: Who signed the first statewide handgun waiting
period legislation, and for what reason?

1990s -- The Brady Act and the so-called Assualt Weapons Ban,
         both enacted as side issues to the War On Drugs.

-MF