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NFA '34 was the direct result of the passage of the Volstead Act (prohibition), and the gangland violence that it gave rise to. Probably the most well known example of this is the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in which 7 men were executed with Thompson Submachineguns (Tommy guns, like in the old movies.)
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Small correction, I think that was 1933 -- the same year Prohibition ended.
In your fast forward to the 60's, you forgot drug prohibition and the fact that it created the same kind of problem that alcohol Prohibition had created re guns. The modern bootleggers don't use Thompsons, they used Mac-10s, AKs, etc. Would we have such support for gun control laws if we didn't have the violence and other problems associated with drug prohibition? I seriously doubt it -- if for no other reason that the homicide rate would drop dramatically just as it dropped dramatically at the end of alcohol prohibition.
End the drug war and we will end much of the political clout of the anti-gun crowd.
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Also, the acts of other criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde gave rise to (supposedly) a public outcry.
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Actually, that was after the NFA.