Since I wasn't there, I was wondering if there was a similar run on guns like we have now in '67 and '68. I know my dad bought an M1 carbine (commercial post war) in '64...just wondering if anyone remembers there being ammo shortages and out of stock gun stores like we're seeing today, or was there enough surplus floating around to meet demand, or was the demand not like what we have today?
Gun demand of the late 1960's
- Thread starter bersaguy
- Start date
- Status
Coyote3855
Member
In the early 1960s, I worked in a small town hardware store that also sold firearms. I have no recollection of shortages of either guns or ammunition. Those were the heady days of cheap surplus firearms of all kinds that could be ordered from the American Rifleman and delivered to your door. I bought a DCM 1911 for under $20.
In college 1964-1968, no shortages of anything that I can recall.
In college 1964-1968, no shortages of anything that I can recall.
tws3b2
Member
Back then "Gun Stores" were hardware stores, department stores, auto parts stores and pretty much any store that wanted to sell a gun. Buy a box of nails and a gun. Get new break pads for your car and a gun. New shoes for your feet and a gun. I don't remember any shortages but maybe, maybe not.
Edit. Sorry. Back then it was Break Shoes not "Pads".
Edit. Sorry. Back then it was Break Shoes not "Pads".
AlexanderA
Member
My recollection is that there wasn't a panic or a run on guns in 1968. For one thing, the NRA, although mildly opposed to the GCA '68, helped negotiate some of its final provisions. A well-known Dallas antique gun dealer, Red Jackson, successfully lobbied for the 1898 cutoff date for antiques.
A big issue among gun owners, as I recall, was whether or not to register machine guns (including DEWATs) in the 30-day amnesty at the end of 1968. Many thought this would lead to inevitable confiscation, and so they didn't register.
(I was 23 years old in 1968 and already considerably into guns.)
A big issue among gun owners, as I recall, was whether or not to register machine guns (including DEWATs) in the 30-day amnesty at the end of 1968. Many thought this would lead to inevitable confiscation, and so they didn't register.
(I was 23 years old in 1968 and already considerably into guns.)
1942bull
Member
In the fall of 1969 when I was discharged I decided to buy a Colt 45 ACP pistol since I had carried one for years in the Corps. I bought it in PA from a gun store. There were no federal background checks then. In PA there was a ten day waiting period to take possession of the gun you bought so it was actually easier in some ways to buy a gun because the paperwork was minimal. The riots after Martin Luther King was killed had subsided. The Vietnam War raged on. It was a time of protest and demonstrations. But it was not a time of accelerated gun buying. In fact, guns were not the issue they have become. There were no horrendous mass shootings. Guns were just part of the fabric of American life. Some people had them, and like today most people did not.
As I think back over the fifty years since I purchased my first gun I recall a less dangerous society that gradually became more dangerous. As that transformation happened gun sales grew. When you add to that motivation ever more popular shooting sports drew more people into the world of guns. With that the number of guns increased. But I have never seen a rush to buy guns like that of the past six months. I have seen increases because of fear of new gun laws if a certain candidate could become president, but that was unlike the motivation driving gun buying today.
Today, people are becoming more aware that they cannot count on law enforcement to protect them. They know that they have to be prepared to protect themselves. And they know a gun is the best available means to do that. I think that trend will continue for some time.
As I think back over the fifty years since I purchased my first gun I recall a less dangerous society that gradually became more dangerous. As that transformation happened gun sales grew. When you add to that motivation ever more popular shooting sports drew more people into the world of guns. With that the number of guns increased. But I have never seen a rush to buy guns like that of the past six months. I have seen increases because of fear of new gun laws if a certain candidate could become president, but that was unlike the motivation driving gun buying today.
Today, people are becoming more aware that they cannot count on law enforcement to protect them. They know that they have to be prepared to protect themselves. And they know a gun is the best available means to do that. I think that trend will continue for some time.
AlexanderA
Member
Don't forget the University of Texas tower massacre in August of 1966. (I was there.) There was no hue and cry for gun control after that incident, partly because a lot of privately-owned guns came out of the woodwork during the incident and helped suppress the gunman. What pushed gun control over the top in 1968 were the twin shootings of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. (These of course were not mass shootings.)
buck460XVR
Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2007
- Messages
- 10,093
No....no rush on guns/ammo that I recall. Biggest reasons were folks did not disagree with the new restrictions, they actually supported them. The restrictions also involved access to firearms that most folks didn't deem important. There was not the feeling of a grand conspiracy against gun ownership by the government. Heck, even the NRA endorsed the Gun Control Act of 1968.
You've said a number of well-reasoned things, and made excellent points, but that part of your comment is something to discuss. A few well-documented examples:
1969 PA Turnpike
1966 Texas
1965 Highway 101
One difference is, there wasn't social media to glorify these criminal acts. Another difference was a rather different approach to mental illness. A lot fewer drugged crazy people running around loose back then.
Oh yes there was.
We also didn't have instant news of the Internet, or cable news channels. It took around 3 months to get a comment published in a magazine. Many of us may not have heard of shortages because of the long news cycle. And there also wasn't the wide variety of arms that we have today. If a typical store,had a 1911, a 30-06, a revolver and a double-barrel shotgun it was consider pretty well stocked. As others have said most gun "stores" were sidelines to the hardware or auto parts business. The large inventoried gun stores were far and few between. And mostly what they carried were shotguns and bolt action rifles. I remember in ATL, Rich's department store and Sears had large gun departments for their day.
.455_Hunter
Member
I was born in the mid-70's. From 1966-1987ish, the only functional firearms in our home was my Dad's elk rifle, my Uncle's elk rifle, and a single-shot .410. No functional handgun. I don't think anybody in my wife's have rural family has owned a handgun, but they have plenty of sporting long guns.
In the 50's, 60's & 70's, what did "normal" people do with handguns? Keep them at home? Keep them in a car? Open carry? Concealed carry?
Where laws against non-permitted concealed carry actively enforced?
From annecdotal observation, I would say that while overall firearm ownership rates may have gone down overtime, handgun ownership rates (and active utilization) have increased greatly.
In the 50's, 60's & 70's, what did "normal" people do with handguns? Keep them at home? Keep them in a car? Open carry? Concealed carry?
Where laws against non-permitted concealed carry actively enforced?
From annecdotal observation, I would say that while overall firearm ownership rates may have gone down overtime, handgun ownership rates (and active utilization) have increased greatly.
Offhand McFlan
Member
I agree, the internet has absolutely turned over a new leaf in gun ownership and generally not for the better. Media has made one big reality TV show out of life for everyone. The lines between reality and fantasy are utterly blurred today as a result of 25 years of the genre. And consumer habits completely reflect that.
In Missouri, concealed carry, and possession in an automobile within proximity of the driver, were prohibited from 1917 to 2003.
A permit was required to purchase a handgun.
One saw people carrying openly on private property in rural areas.
1942bull
Member
Hmm. I missed them. I was in the Corps until Sep 1969 stationed in San Diego. The PA shooting was in April. By time I got back to PA It was not news.
I agree. Also people then were less spoiled and worked harder for a slower reward. Now instant rewards, less work ethic, no fear of a supreme being and people living too much in the virtual world has contributed to mass violence.
THR is a gun forum. And while social responsibility has bearing on gun ownership let's not get too far off into a discussion on the ills of society. It will only lead to the thread being locked.
AlexanderA
Member
I don't remember a big push for gun control in the immediate aftermath of the 1966 Texas tower shooting. If anything, the coverage of guns was positive, since so many armed citizens came forward and helped to pin the sniper down while the police organized their assault on his position. Heck, the two men that finally took him down were a policeman and an armed civilian.
GBExpat
Member
I do not recall being aware of any surge of firearms purchases prior to GCA68.
I do recall the wooden barrels & boxes filled with filthy, greasy, nasty, yucky milsurps in a few local department and hardware stores. At the local department store (Mason's) sporting goods department the longguns in the wooden barrels were listed at $10 & the pistols in the smaller (but equally grimy) wooden boxes were listed at $15.
Dad and I once looked at these milsurps with interest (and at some remove) but agreed that we were both too ignorant to make a proper selection ... that and the fact that if we arrived home with one or more of those nasty things Mom would probably not let us in the house.
I do recall the wooden barrels & boxes filled with filthy, greasy, nasty, yucky milsurps in a few local department and hardware stores. At the local department store (Mason's) sporting goods department the longguns in the wooden barrels were listed at $10 & the pistols in the smaller (but equally grimy) wooden boxes were listed at $15.
Dad and I once looked at these milsurps with interest (and at some remove) but agreed that we were both too ignorant to make a proper selection ... that and the fact that if we arrived home with one or more of those nasty things Mom would probably not let us in the house.
I certainly do.
This is more or less what I figured. I was born in the late '70s, was introduced to firearms through hunting in the late '80s with my father. So, I have heard stories and have read reports of the riots in Detroit and L.A., I know some former Nat'l Gaurdsmen that were there. Just seems like the country was pulling apart at the seams, with JFK, RFK, and MLK being assassinated, the Vietnam war and its protests...but I've never heard that the country was arming itself then like it is today. Though, on the whole, I think it's a good thing. The US small arms industry should be in good shape for a while (less Remington, but I think they dug their own grave), hopefully a new generation of 2A supporters will come of this, and at least from what I see at the range and from a couple of friends of mine who are trainers, floods of people are taking classes and getting training.
Ignition Override
Member
Nonstop news is so dependent on advertising and “ratings sweeps” (tv had these) that violence is, or seems non-stop.
Checking news on the Internet is like a constant viewIng of excerpts from The Walking Dead.
Danger and some gore are what hold the public’s attention, and guns are so graphic and symbolic that conflating (Grouping) criminals with law-abiding citizens is ignored by much of the public.
Checking news on the Internet is like a constant viewIng of excerpts from The Walking Dead.
Danger and some gore are what hold the public’s attention, and guns are so graphic and symbolic that conflating (Grouping) criminals with law-abiding citizens is ignored by much of the public.
Armybrat
Member
I was there too, watching while crouched behind a car in a parking lot at 21st & Whitis. Sounded like a Vietnam War firefight when civilians started returning Whitman’s fire and successfully pinned him down enough to hamper his rampage.
I do not recall any panic buying or shortages in the 1960s. About 1962 my brother ordered an M1 carbine through the NRA magazine for $20 or $25. It was delivered directly to his front door. Opening the package, he found a brand new never issued carbine coated in cosmoline.
Armybrat
Member
Monkey Wards In Austin had racks full of those old S&W and Colt service revolvers displayed by sticking the barrels muzzle end onto wood dowels. $15 sounds about right.I do not recall being aware of any surge of firearms purchases prior to GCA68.
I do recall the wooden barrels & boxes filled with filthy, greasy, nasty, yucky milsurps in a few local department and hardware stores. At the local department store (Mason's) sporting goods department the longguns in the wooden barrels were listed at $10 & the pistols in the smaller (but equally grimy) wooden boxes were listed at $15.
Dad and I once looked at these milsurps with interest (and at some remove) but agreed that we were both too ignorant to make a proper selection ... that and the fact that if we arrived home with one or more of those nasty things Mom would probably not let us in the house.
FROGO207
Member
Back in 68 there never seemed to be much if any rush on firearms. I also remember the barrels of Carcano's and SMLE rifles in the sporting goods area of the local drug store. Father would never let me buy one. Said the ammo cost more than the rifle and I had to stick to the .22.
Monac
Member
I am not old enough to remember anything about the demand for guns in 1968. What I do know is that at that time, the NRA was not running around yelling that the sky was falling. They had actually helped in the drafting of the Gun Control Act of 1968, I believe.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked