[Cory Steiner]

I'm giving a talk on Tuesday about gun control and the right to keep and bear arms as part of a group of people giving "Patriotic Speeches". I've got all of my research done except for how gun control began in the first place. Can anyone give some historical discussion on where it all began in the United States?

[Standing Wolf]

Why start in the United States? Conquerers have disarmed the conquered throughout recorded history. The pharoahs did it. The Greeks did it. The Romans did it. The Chinese did it. The Huns did it.

American so-called "gun control" laws date to the years immediately following the Civil War, when certain states felt it necessary to disarm former slaves. Contemporary so-called "gun control" laws have much to do with white fears of armed blacks, although I'd be surprised if one leftist in 1,000 would ever admit race has anything to do with it.

[Monkeyleg]

There's no "brief" history of gun control. It's been used in this country for various reasons since the days following the Civil War, when the KKK was afraid of free and armed former slaves.

It was introduced in NYC following a heavy flow of Italian, Irish and Jewish immigrants that frightened the white powers-that-be.

It was passed on a grand scale nationally after the assasinations of JFK, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy made some legiscritters fear that they would be next. The sight of the Black Panthers arming themselves didn't help much either.

A dramatic increase in the homicide rate, driven by the booming drug trade, gave the anti's a window through which to sneak even more gun control legislation.

Bill Clinton, sensing the angst of soccer moms, seized gun control as one of his signature issues.

Just a few of many points that can be made.

[Justin]

To sum up:
Early gun control (End of Civil war to roughly the 1930's): People who aren't white don't have the right to defend themselves, especially when they're being victimized by various different groups who don't like them.

Modern gun control (1934-today): We're passing a law because it's a knee-jerk reaction to some tragedy.

Interestingly enough, pretty much the only Jim Crow laws still on the books are gun control laws. For example, in MO if you want to buy a handgun you have to have someone vouch for your character to the person who is selling you the gun.

[lee n. field]

Why start in the United States? Conquerers have disarmed the conquered throughout recorded history. The pharoahs did it. The Greeks did it. The Romans did it. The Chinese did it. The Huns did it.

Circa 1000 BC., in 1st Samuel somewhere it records that of all the Israelites, only Saul (Israel's first king) and his son Jonathan had swords. The Phillistines whom they were then under the thumb of, wouldn't let them have blacksmiths.

[El Tejon]

"There were no blacksmiths in Israel because the Philistines were determined to keep the Hebrews from making swords and spears." 1 Samuel 13:19-22 (Good News).

While the Civil War was fought over slavery, "gun control" began long before the end of the Civil War. Southern states long had laws to enforce the evil of slavery. Key to their oppression was the prohibition of blacks from owning firearms.

Indeed, it was so vital that Southern Chief Justice Taney in his parade of horribles included owning and carrying firearms as all the rights to be included to blacks if they were deemed persons! Dred Scot v. Sanford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393, 417 (1857). "[T]o keep and carry arms wherever they [blacks] went." Id.

[jimpeel]

http://www.shadeslanding.com/firearms/cramer.racism.html

Clayton Cramer's excellent tome "The Racist Roots of Gun Control".

[Billll]

For a history of gun control in N. America, try
http://www.old-yankee.com/rkba/racial_laws.html