"keep in mind that this was right after MLK (4/4/68) and RFK (6/6/68) were murdered."
The discussion and negotiation started after JFK was murdered in '63. It took that long to get to the GCA of '68.
There is much more to the story than just JFK, MLK and RFK leading up to what is commonly known as the 1968 Gun Control Act. An as much as this may rile some people up. Even the NRA supported gun control!
Thomas Dodd of Connecticut was conducting the "Dodd Hearings" even before JFK was shot! In
1958 (Senator) John F Kennedy introduced legislation to "to control the importation of surplus military firearms". Clearly as a protectionist measure.
http://www.mississippigunnews.com/history-of-the-1968-gun-control-act/
The beginnings of the Dodd hearings can be traced to
1961 when Dodd as a part of a study
" of mail order sales of firearms.[9] After two years of staff study, Senator Dodd introduced his first gun bill, Senate Bill 1975 and opened hearings to generate public interest in the gun issue.[10] The bill required mail-order purchasers of handguns to provide the seller a notarized affidavit stating they were over eighteen years of age and legally entitled to purchase the firearm and restricted the importation of surplus military firearms.[11] The bill had input from the Treasury Department and received support from both the firearms industry and the NRA.[12]"
And before MLK and RFK we find this interesting bit of information.
"Although various members of Congress introduced a variety of gun bills during the period between 1964 and 1968, the Dodd Bill became a generic description for all pending legislation, particularly among opponents of firearms control legislation."
And some more damning information which implicated the NRA as going along with these bills as well in 1965.
"The NRA and firearms [Page 81] manufacturers had supported Dodd’s original bill and the subsequent addition of interstate controls on long guns.[18] Although the official organ of the NRA, The American Rifleman, indicated otherwise, the NRA leadership displayed some willingness to compromise with Dodd as late as 1965."
If you want to read the rest, and I highly recommend that everyone here does. Go to
http://www.mississippigunnews.com/history-of-the-1968-gun-control-act/
Thomas Dodd was basically the "go to man" for gun control legislation and considered to be the architect of the 1968 Gun Control Act . Although not mentioned in the article, there was another figure who helped Dodd give his input and testified at the Dodd Hearings. That persons name was Arthur Sills, then Attorney General of New Jersey.
Arthur Sills the main character in drafting and ramrodding the 1966 FID legislation (also called the Sills Act) through both houses and eventually into law. Sills' legislation made "Firearm ID cards" mandatory in New Jersey and in my opinion that is the single reason that New Jersey ended up with some of the worst gun laws in the country and the reason for the low gun ownership in that state. Arthur Sills' Firearm ID card schemes were copied by Illinois in 1968 and Massachusetts some time later.
(Later on yet another NJ politician would also affect gun rights throughout the U.S. You might have heard of him. His name is William J. Hughes (D-N.J.). Author of the Hughes Amendment)
Anyway here was Sills, a person no one outside of NJ has ever heard of in 1966. Giving input and testimony to the Dodd hearings which directly led to the 1968 GCA. And which ended up affecting gun rights in this country for generations.
Remember that when you hear some anti mention that they have new gun control legislation. It isn't new. It was been worked on for months or in the case of the 1968 GCA...It could be traced back as far as a decade. Back to 1958 by none other than JFK.
In more recent times. Di-Fi revealed that when she unveiled her assault weapons ban in 2013. Her staff was working on the legislation
for over a year.
Getting back to Thomas Dodd and the 1968 Gun Control Act. There are allegations that Dodd got some of the input for the 1968 GCA from old 1938 Nazi Gun Control Laws. Some believe the story was bogus, you be the judge. I found a copy of the letter in which Dodd asked to have a copy of the Nazi Gun Control Laws.
Here it is from jpfo
.
