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Timeline of pivotal moments in US gun control history
By e Associated Press
Gun control is one of the most polarizing issues in U.S. society. For nearly a century, legislation and U.S. Supreme Court cases have shaped federal gun policy. Following are some pivotal moments in that history:
1871 — e National Ri e Association is formed by two Union veterans who were disappointed by the lack of marksmanship by their troops. e goal of the group was to “promote and encourage ri e shooting on a scienti c basis,” one of the veterans wrote in a magazine editorial, according to the NRA.
1927 — Congress passes the “Nonmailable Firearms Act of 1927, making it illegal to use the U.S. mail to ship “pistols, revolvers, and other rearms capable of being concealed
on the person.” Exceptions were made for military, police and other o cial purposes. e penalty for violations was up to two years in prison and/or a ne of up to $1,000.
1934 — e National Firearms Act, the rst comprehensive federal gun control legislation, is enacted, aimed at cracking down on the bloody gangland era of Al Capone, John Dil- linger and others. e law imposed a $200 tax, which was considered prohibitive at the time, on machine guns and shotguns and ri es with barrels shorter than 18 inches. It also required the federal registration of these types of re- arms. e act was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal for Crime.”
1938 — e Federal Firearms Act of 1938 takes e ect, requiring rearms licenses for gun dealers, manufacturers and importers. It
compelled sellers to keep customer records and banned sales to some people, including convicted felons.
1939 — e U.S. Supreme Court, in U.S. v. Miller, rules that a short-barrel shotgun is not a weapon protected under the Second Amendment.
1968 — e assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King and Sen. Robert Kennedy lead to the Gun Control Act of 1968. It created new catego- ries of rearms crimes, banned the sale of rearms and ammunition to felons and other prohibited groups of people, and imposed federal jurisdiction over “destructive devices,” including bombs and grenades, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
1986 — e Firearm Owners’ Protection Act amends the 1968 law, relaxing some gun control measures. It limited ATF inspec-
tions of sellers to once a year, repealed some record-keeping requirements for the sale of ammunition, prohibited the government from establishing a national registry of gun owners, and permitted gun dealers, importers and manufacturers to do business at temporary locations, such as gun shows.
1993 — e Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 requires federal background checks before a rearm can be purchased from a federally licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer. e National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is maintained by the FBI, conducts the
checks. e law is named a er James Brady, who was seriously wounded in an assassina- tion attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981 when he was serving as White House press secretary. Reagan and two others also were shot. Brady died in 2014.
1994 — Congress passes a 10-year ban on the manufacture, transfer and possession of new semi-automatic assault weapons. e ban was part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which also banned certain large capacity ammuni- tion magazines. e measure applied only to weapons manufactured a er the ban was enacted, and it expired in 2004. Numerous e orts to renew it have failed.
2003 — e Tiahrt Amendment, proposed by Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, bars the ATF from publicly releasing information about where criminals bought their rearms.
2005 — President George W. Bush signs the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, prohibiting gun manufacturers and dealers from being named in civil lawsuits in federal and state courts when crimes are committed involving their rearms.
2008 — In the District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Americans have a constitutional right to keep handguns and commonly used rearms in their homes for self-defense. e ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year handgun ban as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment.
FDA begins anti-smoking push
By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Health Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health o cials are taking the rst step in a sweeping anti-smoking plan to drastically cut nicotine levels in cigarettes so they aren’t addictive.
e Food and Drug Administra- tion estimates its plan, rst an-
nounced last summer, could push the U.S. smoking rate to 1 percent. Cur- rently about 15 percent of adults in the U.S. smoke. Regulators estimate about 5 million additional people would quit cigarettes within one year of the new nicotine limits.
On ursday, the agency published its formal notice to begin regulating
nicotine in what’s expected to be a multi-year process littered with potential obstacles.
e FDA gained authority to regulate ingredients in cigarettes and other tobacco products in 2009. But FDA’s regulatory e orts have been hampered for years by legal challeng- es by Big Tobacco companies.
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