[Ralph McLaney]

This is an interesting article on NRA and Shooting Industry support for what became GCA 68.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kreca/kreca3.1.1.html

"Foolishly, the NRA supported GCA68 at the time (something it doesn't like to discuss these days,) and was editorializing on and off for such a law for some six years, two justifications being the desire to preserve the domestic firearms industry in the interests of "national security" (how convenient those two words are!) and to presumably protect it from cheaper foreign imports (see the American Rifleman, Aug. 1962 edition)."

 

[Shawn Crea]

Ralph,
Can you post a portion of the article that gives members a flavor of what the article is about? Your one-sentence line gives a clue, but personally, that doesn't give me enough to maybe want to hit the link.

 

[mattsbox99]

No doubt many laws that the Gov't makes are unconstitutional, but lawmakers get so greedy they can't fathom not making laws everyday to make our heads spin. My solution is to make all lawmakers an unpaid volunteer position and to only let them introduce, deliberate, and write laws for 1 month out of the year. MT gets by fine on have one 90 day session every two years.

 

[MikeG]

This is an interesting article on NRA and Shooting Industry support for what became GCA 68.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kreca/kreca3.1.1.html

"Foolishly, the NRA supported GCA68 at the time (something it doesn't like to discuss these days,) and was editorializing on and off for such a law for some six years, two justifications being the desire to preserve the domestic firearms industry in the interests of "national security" (how convenient those two words are!) and to presumably protect it from cheaper foreign imports (see the American Rifleman, Aug. 1962 edition)."

I'm afraid that argument is being completely taken out of context, by those with an ax to grind. I have the 1967 issues of the American Rifleman and it is going into quite a bit of detail about the fight against those very gun control laws. The NRA was adamantly opposed to new gun control laws, period.

Unfortunately, the NRA simply did not have the clout it does now. Interesting article on Ted Kennedy telling the NRA, basically, "you're going to get this whether you like it or not." Unfortunately, Ted, and the rest of the gun control crowd, had the votes back then.

Not having the 1968 issues to review, I can only speculate that the strategy was to support the least offensive of all of the bad alternatives available.

A legitimate criticism of the NRA was that there was not a challenge to the GCA in the court system. Did the NRA have the financial resources to do that in 1968? I don't know.

But I can tell you, for certain, that the NRA was putting out a clear message in 1967 against further gun control laws.

 

[kdub]

Agree with you, Mike. Think I may have that '68 issue up in the attic. Will see if I can find it and post the content pertaining to the GCA.;

 

[osprey572ci]

Ralph,
Can you post a portion of the article that gives members a flavor of what the article is about? Your one-sentence line gives a clue, but personally, that doesn't give me enough to maybe want to hit the link.

Shawn I politely agree and we see alot of it. I personally need a taste of something before I want to click on it.

 

[Davers]

The Gun Control Act of 1968 is doing NOTHING to prevent gun violence. It is nothing more than a "Feel Good" Law that robs taxpayer's money & punishes law abiding gunowners, while the criminals still obtain their firearms.

 

[leverite]

20-20 hindsight is great, isn't it? Regardless of what the NRA was or wasn't doing in 1968, I know that there's plenty I did and didn't do back then that I would change now, if I could.

Who'd have imagined back then that we'd be facing the government controls that have evolved since then.

If I could go back to 1968, I'd do three things for sure...
1. Buy up all the old Savage 99's & Colt SAA's I could afford (not much, unfortunately).
2. Write myself a note to buy all the Microsoft stock I could get when it went public in the 80's.
3. Write a letter to Ronald Reagan telling him not to support the muhajadin in Afganistan. Find some other way to challenge the Russki's.

oh yea...and avoid that gal that ended up to be wife #1.

 

[Davers]

Before the GCA of 1968 went into affect; I bought my last rifle from a mail order place in New York. This was back in August of 1967. The rifle was mailed to me and I didn have to go through all the CRAP you have to go through today and I didn't have to pay any extra "Transfer" money either.

THE GOOD 'OLE DAYS​

 

[MZ5]

No doubt many laws that the Gov't makes are unconstitutional, but lawmakers get so greedy they can't fathom not making laws everyday to make our heads spin.

Unfortunately, the court system won't overturn a great number of the really critical ones, such that the power structure (the federal gov't in this example, but it applies to all aspects of life) simply takes more and more because it wants to and it can.