What Was Different About Gun Control And Mass Shootings In America’s Past?

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To listen to anti-gunners, you would think that guns these days have an attitude problem, that they are misbehaving and doing terrible things. You would think that guns have really changed in their character and mindset and that this is why we have so many mass shootings these days.

But is that even remotely true? No.

Even anti-gunners will agree with you that America seems much more violent now and that it seems that there are more mass shootings in the past. But, the fact of the matter is that guns were much more common in America’s past than they are today, but mass shootings weren’t something that you heard about on the nightly news every few months. So, maybe anti-gunners should look over this information from a recent article by Walter Williams:

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Yale University legal scholar John Lott argues that gun accessibility in our country has never been as restricted as it is now. Lott reports that until the 1960s, New York City public high schools had shooting clubs. Students carried their rifles to school on the subway in the morning and then turned them over to their homeroom teacher or a gym teacher – and that was mainly to keep them centrally stored and out of the way. Rifles were retrieved after school for target practice (http://tinyurl.com/yapuaehp). Virginia’s rural areas had a long tradition of high school students going hunting in the morning before school, and they sometimes stored their guns in the trunks of their cars during the school day, parked on the school grounds.

Yes, guns were commonplace in American society and in schools. So, maybe guns are different now and have poorer morality. Of course, this is a foolish statement as guns are inanimate objects. They don’t have morality. They don’t move on their own. And, despite all the technological advancements, guns, essentially, retain the same basic functionality: you pull the trigger and it fires a shell or shot.

So, what is different now than in America’s past? Williams gives us that answer:

Guns haven’t changed. People have changed. Behavior that is accepted from today’s young people was not accepted yesteryear. For those of us who are 65 or older, assaults on teachers were not routine as they are in some cities. For example, in Baltimore, an average of four teachers and staff members were assaulted each school day in 2010, and more than 300 school staff members filed workers’ compensation claims in a year because of injuries received through assaults or altercations on the job. In Philadelphia, 690 teachers were assaulted in 2010, and in a five-year period, 4,000 were. In that city’s schools, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, “on an average day 25 students, teachers or other staff members were beaten, robbed, sexually assaulted or victims of other violent crimes. That doesn’t even include thousands more who are extorted, threatened or bullied in a school year.”

It’s abundantly clear for anyone who wants to see the truth: the solution to gun violence is to hold people, starting as children, responsible for their actions. Now, contrary to what many anti-gunner-types will tell you, we’re not talking about child abuse. We’re talking about making it very clear that some behavior is unacceptable and that it will not be tolerated. We’re talking about instilling morals in children in our amoral society. And we’re talking about people being able to take responsibility to defend themselves.

That lack of character, morality, and personal responsibility that we see in our “modern” society is what is different in this day and age.

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24 COMMENTS

  1. Hi: I’m not sure this is the place to make this comment as to contact you is unavailable it seems. My gripe is your poll on Pres. Trump 2nd amendment . I tried to select yes to all 5 questions but each time as I moved down the list the previous one was left blank, WHY? Not Cool.

  2. When I attended high school in the 1950s I carried my shot gun to school across my bike handle bars and stored it under the vise principle’s desk so that I could hunt pheasants after school.

  3. When will the anti-gun politicians and their followers stop blaming inanimate objects (guns) for the actions of the criminals and crazies that commit these murders. If the anti-gunners have there way, the good citizens will be defenseless while the criminals and crazies have a field day. Billionaire, anti-gun Michael Bloomberg gives millions of dollars to anti-gun organizations while he goes around with seventeen armed bodyguards! HYPOCRITE!

  4. Guns themselves have never killed people. that said, guns are used to kill people. For a gun to kill someone it has to have someone in charge of it.

  5. this is very clear, logical and appears totally accurate. Wish I could cut/paste the whole article into Facebook. Would’t that shock people. On this left coast, where I grew up carrying a BB gun around, my brother, a hunting rifle, following all safety rules set forth by wise parents, it is a shock to have to purchase an expensive safe to even store a firearm legally, then purchase an expensive alarm system service to help slow down those who would break in a steal the safe and contents. If arrested, somehow the home owner would be held liable.

  6. You forgot two essential items. Civics was taught in all schools, responsible behavior and responsibility for own actions, and there was prayer along with the pledge. Prayer is necessary.

  7. and what we are seeing TODAY, IS ALL PART OF THE PLANKS OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO IN TRYING TO DESTROY OUR NATION.
    read it, IT’S ALL RIGHT THERE.
    and UNLESS WE THE PEOPLE RISE UP AND STOP IT BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE WE WILL LOSE OUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS.
    POLITICIANS THINK IT’S THEIR RIGHT TO RULE OVER US, AND WE FOUGHT A REVOLUTION AGAINST THAT.
    AND WE WILL HAVE TO AGAIN, BECAUSE NO PEOPLE HAVE EVER VOTED THEMSELVES OUT OF TYRANNY.

  8. I blame the violent films and video games. Never had such things before the last 50 years. Youth have become numb to it, life no longer has meaning. When I was in high school I was forbidden by my parents to see “West Side Story” because of one girl called “anybody’s” and the gang violence. Even when I was 18 and went to see The Godfather my mother was horrified of what would become of me! In addition, divorce is rampant, and single parents just can’t police their children’s activities as two parents can. Parents are not married, their kids are likewise given no responsibility or sense of it, and few families attend church together. Gangs give kids their only sense of family, and drugs are their only food. It’s a society problem all the way around.

  9. The main thing that is missing today that was present in the “old” days is God. Without God, whatever “morals” that are present are like a very shaky scaffold, that is: VERY succeptible to collapse.

  10. The left wing is made up of Democrats and they don’t want people to have
    any type of gun. Well they can kiss my royal red ass. Democrats want to
    control all aspects of our lives, money, weapons, women, what we eat and
    what we drive, where we go, what we do, who we see, why we see them.
    I don’t know about you, but I’m damm sick of it. I think this country would
    be a hell of lot better without them. Let’s send them to other foreign
    countries and see how they would survive. I think they would have a tough
    time. Think of that, I could get along without them. Wishful thinking!

  11. When I was in high school I brought my Winchester 94 to school (just walked down the hall with it. the Principal saw me going to the shop and asked what was wrong with the rifle) so my shop teacher could make a new firing pin for it. We all had shotguns or rifles in our vehicles. That was the norm and not unusual. Today a kid draws a picture of a gun and is suspended or worse. I have said the same things for years that the morality of people is what has changed! It is truly sad what is happening today. When I was growing up I had 2 rifles and a shotgun in a 3 gun rack hanging above my bed and none of my friends ever thought of doing something bad. In 7th and 8th grade I would get off of the bus and grab a gun and go out shooting, just had to be home by dark. I sure miss those days!

  12. Since The USA has become BRA Oogah Boogah Land West…thanks a pantload President Johnson and (((The Nation Wreckers))) Javits and Cellar…what was normal has now become aberrant, Up is Down, In is Out and The Flying Monkeys from The Wizard of Oz have become the front line troops of (((The Khazarian Mafia))) vampires and pirates.
    Mayors like Tiny Dancer Rahm Emmanuel The Dual Citizen IDF veteran, and the various Commies and Mookies that run the urban crapholes WILL NOT deal with the street maggots; but, are more than willing to disarm those afflicted by and threatened by those rampaging maggot scum.
    Why ?
    Because (((The Ruling Swine))) and their craven stooges need the humans dispossessed and powerless, crushed and down so that “…they may sit and eat like Effendi…”, the rotten demon bastids.
    The Times, they are a-changin’ …Khazars.
    The Great Reckoning is coming; and you will not enjoy it.
    Tick Tock, scums.
    Tick Tock

  13. I don’t understand why people think that if you outlaw guns everything will be fine. The bad guys will always be able to get guns and innocent people will be at their mercy. If a crook would think about breaking into your house he /she would twice if they knew you were armed. It is as simple as that.

  14. Great article. Comments are right on the Progressive (Communist) politicians have stuck their heads so far in the sand up up their asses they have no clue on what the Second Amendment represents. They think the police wil l protect us but if you have to call them it is already to late. Get rid of all the Gun Control Zealots and their bankers like Bloomberg and Soros. Both of them should be put up for treason and hung.

  15. Years ago when I was about twelve my School Principal hired me and a friend to bring our BB guns to school and drive the pigeons out of the third floor of the school, so it could be cleaned up. When I got older and got my first 22 rifle every Sunday. My brother and I would meet our Vice- principal at the local dump and spend the afternoon shooting. Which came in handy on my senior trip to Vietnam. Now that’s Gun control. But what can you expect from a bunch of rural area Deplorables. I sure do miss them days. I sure wish our younger generation had the same guidance. We didn’t spend our time inside playing destructive video games.

  16. Between the years 1968 – 1976 My brother, then myself attended the same High School in NE Louisiana. During hunting season just about every pick-up truck ha a rifle rack with a rifle and/or a shotgun in it. There were roughly 1800 students in attendance each year and no shootings. If you had a problem with someone you break out the oldest weapons known to man…FISTS ! You had a scrap, got detention or suspension and went about your business. There is no more personal responsibility and too many participation trophies.

  17. Yes, there is a world wide agenda against citizens owning and using firearms. The left has followed this, but the right is not all for gun rights either. Both left and right want to control the masses, we need to vote for independents or 3rd party if we want to be free. It is time that we broke away from the parties that have forsaken us.

  18. I see the current problem as a lack of gun security in homes. Responsible parents keep guns out of the hands of kids who can have periods of emotional issues that can cause violent reaction. Crack down on irresponsible parents and watch the killings stop.

  19. The lefties are control freaks and need to push the no gun agenda to complete it without trouble. Defenseless people can be easily led to the slaughter as has been proven multiple times in the past. They care nothing for the people only themselves. They’ll sacrifice any and all to protect themselves.

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