Editing Gun Control Act of 1968 (section)

==History==
The bill was initially prompted by the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy]] in 1963.<ref name=Michaud120419>{{cite magazine |last=Michaud |first=Jon |date=April 19, 2012 |title=The Birth of the Modern Gun Debate |url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2012/04/the-birth-of-the-modern-gun-debate.html |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> The President was shot and killed with a rifle purchased by mail order from an ad in the magazine ''[[American Rifleman]]''.<ref name=Bugliosi2007>{{cite book |last=Bugliosi |first=Vincent |year=2007 |title=Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jrKTKDhvfkC&pg=PA200|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |page=200 |isbn=978-0-393-04525-3}}</ref> Congressional hearings followed and a ban on mail-order gun sales was discussed, but no law was passed until 1968. At the hearings NRA Executive Vice-President [[Franklin Orth]] supported a ban on mail-order sales, stating, "We do not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States."<ref name=Rosenfeld>{{cite news |last=Rosenfeld |first=Steven |date=January 14, 2013 |title=The NRA once supported gun control |url=http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_nra_once_supported_gun_control/ |newspaper=Salon|publisher=Salon Media Group |access-date=July 7, 2014 }}</ref><ref name=UnderFire>{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Osha Gray |year=1998 |title=Under Fire: The NRA and the Battle for Gun Control |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1LEQd2r1sYC&pg=PA30|publisher=University of Iowa Press |page=30 |isbn=978-1-58729-042-8}}</ref>

Precursors of the passage of the Gun Control Act were Senate Bill 1975<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vizzard |first1=William J. |title=The Gun Control Act of 1968 |journal=Saint Louis University Public Law Review |date=1999 |volume=18 |url=https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1444&context=plr |access-date=6 October 2024}}</ref> in 1963, "A Bill to Regulate the Interstate Shipment of Firearms", and Senate Bill 1592 in 1965, "A Bill to Amend the Federal Firearms Act of 1938". Both were introduced by Senator [[Thomas J. Dodd]] but in both cases the bill was met with fierce opposition, effectively shutting down the earliest efforts for gun control legislation regarding the mail-order rifles. The bill was once again introduced into the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] by the [[United States House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] on January 10, 1967,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pal |first=Anupama |date=2014-09-09 |title=Legal research on ProQuest databases: a survey of Legislative Insight and Congressional |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/rr-12-2013-0314 |journal=Reference Reviews |volume=28 |issue=7 |pages=8–10 |doi=10.1108/rr-12-2013-0314 |issn=0950-4125|url-access=subscription }}</ref> with this instance resulting in the bill staying on the legislative docket.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |year=2014 |title=Sources for Connecticut's role in the gun control debate |url=http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/research/gun_control.htm |publisher=University of Connecticut |access-date=July 7, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707222435/http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/research/gun_control.htm |archive-date=July 7, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://jpfo.org/common-sense/cs34.htm|title=Common Sense|access-date=10 June 2016|archive-date=7 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607210656/http://jpfo.org/common-sense/cs34.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The April 4, 1968, [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]], shortly followed by the June 5 [[assassination of Robert F. Kennedy]], as well as the shooting at the University of Texas [[University of Texas tower shooting|two years previously]], compounded by shifting societal attitudes towards gun ownership, renewed efforts to pass the bill.<ref name=Rosenfeld/> On June 11, 1968, a tie vote in the House Judiciary Committee halted the bill's passage.<ref name=Finney680612>{{cite news |last=Finney |first=John W. |date=June 12, 1968 |title=Gun Control Bill Blocked In House; Panel Deadlocks on Johnson Plan to Curb Rifle Sales – New Vote Is Scheduled |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/12/archives/gun-control-bill-blocked-in-house-panel-deadlocks-on-johnson-plan.html |page=1 |newspaper=New York Times}}{{subscription required}}</ref> On reconsideration nine days later, the bill was passed by the committee. The [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] similarly brought the bill to a temporary halt, but as in the House, it was passed on reconsideration.<ref name=NYTimes680621>{{cite news |last=Finney |first=John W. |date=June 21, 1968 |title=Senate Due To Act Today; House Unit Votes Gun Bill, But Senate Panel Delays It House Committee Vote |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/21/archives/senate-due-to-act-today-house-unit-votes-gun-bill-but-senate-panel.html |page=1 |newspaper=New York Times}}{{subscription required}}</ref> House Resolution 17735, known as the Gun Control Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968<ref name=LBJ681022>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29197 |title=553 – Remarks Upon Signing the Gun Control Act of 1968. |last=Johnson |first=Lyndon B. |date=October 22, 1968 |website=presidency.ucsb.edu |publisher=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. |access-date=October 9, 2013 |archive-date=September 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909202137/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29197 |url-status=dead }}</ref> banning mail-order sales of rifles and shotguns and prohibiting most felons, drug users, and people found mentally incompetent from buying guns.<ref name=Dolak131121>{{cite news |last=Dolak |first=Kevin |date=November 21, 2013 |title=Gun Debate Spurred by Kennedy Assassination Rages on Today |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/gun-debate-spurred-kennedy-assassination-rages-today/story?id=20677433|publisher=ABC News Internet Ventures |access-date=July 7, 2014 }}</ref><ref name=CBS130413>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=April 13, 2013 |title=U.S. gun control: A history of tragedy, legislative action |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-gun-control-a-history-of-tragedy-legislative-action/|publisher=CBS Interactive |access-date=July 7, 2014 }}</ref> This act also included provisions that redefined the definitions of firearms within the United States and provided more rules for weapons manufacturers and licensed sellers on interstate commerce of ammunition and other firearm accessories.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zimring |first=Franklin E. |date=1975 |title=Firearms and Federal Law: The Gun Control Act of 1968 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/724104 |journal=The Journal of Legal Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=133–198 |doi=10.1086/467528 |jstor=724104 |issn=0047-2530|url-access=subscription }}</ref>