The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - When did the Anti-gun movement start?

Dfariswheel · February 21, 2013, 07:52 PM

The first "modern" gun control plea I ever saw was in an early talkie movie about gangsters.

I "think" it may have been the original "Scarface".
It prominently showed gangsters using the then-new Thompson SMG.
At the end of the movie there was an added-on "public service" speech by some bluenose calling for the banning of these evil weapons of mass destruction.

A couple of years later, Congress passed the Gun Control act of 1934.

In the middle ages, knights didn't like the idea of some peasant being able to shoot them out of the saddle with a cross bow or early firearm.
A knights trained war horse cost the equivalent of a nice farm, and armor was on the level of buying a high end Mercedes.
All that could be defeated by a serf with a few days experience. So, they tried to ban them.

Mercenary's of the day often pooled their money and bought a cannon.
The aristocracy didn't like getting blown out of the saddle so they tried to ban cannons the hard way.
Cannoneers pulled the cannon around with ropes called petards.
Knights ordered captured cannoneers to be hanged with their own cannon rope, thus "Hoist by his own petard".

In the Renaissance, there were bans on wheel locks, along with very much the same hysterical claims that they were the cause of so much murder and crime.

In Japan the gun became quite popular, which negated the life time of training by the Samurai and his sword. So, Japan banned the gun, and there the ban worked. Most Japanese warlords gave up on the gun as dishonorable.

In America early gun control appeared in the cow towns of Kansas when carrying of guns was banned to keep down the shooting by cowboys.

However, the first true gun control in the US was in the South during Reconstruction to prevent blacks from arming themselves and resisting the KKK.
It just took the fun out of night riding while wearing a mask if some freedman could dispense a load of 00 buckshot into your sheet.

Bottom line, no doubt someone tried to ban the new flint ax some cave man developed because it was to much more deadly then the standard non-assault stone ax.

February 21, 2013, 07:52 PM	#28
Dfariswheel Senior Member Join Date: May 4, 2001 Posts: 7,478	The first "modern" gun control plea I ever saw was in an early talkie movie about gangsters. I "think" it may have been the original "Scarface". It prominently showed gangsters using the then-new Thompson SMG. At the end of the movie there was an added-on "public service" speech by some bluenose calling for the banning of these evil weapons of mass destruction. A couple of years later, Congress passed the Gun Control act of 1934. In the middle ages, knights didn't like the idea of some peasant being able to shoot them out of the saddle with a cross bow or early firearm. A knights trained war horse cost the equivalent of a nice farm, and armor was on the level of buying a high end Mercedes. All that could be defeated by a serf with a few days experience. So, they tried to ban them. Mercenary's of the day often pooled their money and bought a cannon. The aristocracy didn't like getting blown out of the saddle so they tried to ban cannons the hard way. Cannoneers pulled the cannon around with ropes called petards. Knights ordered captured cannoneers to be hanged with their own cannon rope, thus "Hoist by his own petard". In the Renaissance, there were bans on wheel locks, along with very much the same hysterical claims that they were the cause of so much murder and crime. In Japan the gun became quite popular, which negated the life time of training by the Samurai and his sword. So, Japan banned the gun, and there the ban worked. Most Japanese warlords gave up on the gun as dishonorable. In America early gun control appeared in the cow towns of Kansas when carrying of guns was banned to keep down the shooting by cowboys. However, the first true gun control in the US was in the South during Reconstruction to prevent blacks from arming themselves and resisting the KKK. It just took the fun out of night riding while wearing a mask if some freedman could dispense a load of 00 buckshot into your sheet. Bottom line, no doubt someone tried to ban the new flint ax some cave man developed because it was to much more deadly then the standard non-assault stone ax.