21 – Gun Control - A Diversion?
Is the ongoing effort to promote gun control an intellectual fraud inflicted upon unknowledgeable American people? Does the effort discourage people from asking why unusual acts of violence started and continue to increase following 1964? Consider for yourself.
The Civilian Marksmanship Program, or CMP, was started in 1903 by the United States Congress under the War Department Appropriations Act to encourage and provide opportunities for civilians to learn marksmanship and practice their skills with military-style firearms. The CMP still sells surplus military firearms to the public. Following WWII, one of the most popular rifles was the M1 Carbine .30 caliber that sold out long ago. Magazine capacities are either 15 or 30 rounds. But new ones can be purchased commercially. (https://www.pewpewtactical.com/how-to-buy-gun-cmp/) An M1 Carbine is very much like an AR-15.
Prior to 1968, the only federal gun control laws were passed in 1934, dealing with a $200 tax and government approval to purchase machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, suppressors, etc. These laws related to violence initiated following alcohol prohibition.
Following the Civil War, southern state laws focused on prohibitions against blacks and other minorities. They were known as Black Codes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States). These laws included restricted firearms purchase and carry. What were Klansmen looking for when they raided homes of blacks at night?
Similar laws were enacted in other states. For example, the 1911 New York Sullivan Act focused on Italian-Americans and others. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Act) Until Johnson’s efforts to provide equal protections under the law beginning in 1964 firearms laws were unequally enforced against blacks and other minorities.
Levels of violent crime started following 1964 and continue today. The first urban riot occurred in 1965 in South Central Los Angeles. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_riots) The first school mass shooting occurred in 1966. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting)
Federal firearms laws were enacted in 1968, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2005, 2022. The most interesting of these is the Assault Weapons Ban. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban) A major characteristic of the 650 exempted weapons is that they have wooden stocks: one was a M1 Carbine .30 caliber, a true “assault weapon of war.” Also, there are 30-round magazines that can be used interchangeably on exempted Ruger Mini-14’s and prohibited AR-15’s. Shoot 15 rounds of 5.56mm out of a Mini-14; shoot the remaining 15 rounds from the same magazine out of an AR-15. Is it a surprise that no evidence can be found that indicates the ban reduced violence?
Our elected representatives are not stupid. Is it possible they assume a large percentage of Americans are so uninformed of such realities to not notice? How many people today still think gun control saves lives? Consider.
Since 2019 private citizens have justifiably killed more felons than law enforcement officers. Since 2017 private citizens have, on average, justifiably killed more than one felon a day in the United States. How many innocent civilians are murdered each year because of a lack of a self-defense firearm prohibited by state laws? (https://www.statista.com/statistics/251894/number-of-justifiable-homicides-in-the-us/)

Police officers have no duty to respond to a 911 call for help even if a lethal attack is in process in your home. Nor do they have to act based on a court-ordered restraining order even if a violation is known to be occurring? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Castle_Rock_v._Gonzales)

Why are these facts not published by the national media or discussed by our elected representatives?
Joseph L. Bass, EdD 10/6/2025

Thank you for this timely research! I just wrote a message about how the leading cause of death for children and teens (1 to 19) in the US are firearms. My partner has a son born here almost 10 years ago but he sent him with his grandfather to live on a different continent bc he is worried about gun violence in schools. I worked as a teacher and educator all my life in the US and Spain, I retired early bc a student was killed at a school in my district. A teacher tried to warn admin but their response was to let them figure it out on their own. Of course there were many lawsuits, we had to have police on campus and my students stopped attending since their parents were too scared to send them to school. There are now more guns than people in the US.

Just wanted to add that in 2023 there were 49,000 suicides and 55.33% of those were by a firearm in a single year in the US from ages 10 on up.

10/8/2025
Aracelli
Based on your replies, I assume my message 21 – Gun Control - A Diversion? was poorly written.
My parents were teachers and I taught for about a dozen years.
My message asked readers to think about the fact that prior to 1964 firearms were easily available and the violence we now experience did not start to occur until just after that year. Before 1964, except for the 1934 laws relating the machine gunsm the only gun control laws were state laws designed to prohibit black citizens from having them. And thousands of surplus military M1 Carbine .30 caliber rifles, true weapons of war, were being sold to the public following WWII.
From 1948 to 1964 my schools were safe places even thought guns were easily available.
My question I hoped readers would think about is: After 1964, what motivated people to start misusing firearms that were not being so used prior to that date? It is not possible to motivate a gun to do anything. What caused citizens to be motivated to start killing neighbors and shooting children? How are we going to reduce violence without knowing what caused the motivational changes after 1964?
Your numbers about suicide are probably correct, but presented out of context. The United States is known to have more firearms per citizens than any other nation. The following website establishes that about 30-plus nations have higher suicide rates than the US. If firearms were a factor in suicide rates, our suicide rate would be the highest in the world.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country