The Right
To Bear Arms
Follow key events and legislation in the history of guns in America.
|
|
|
 |
States ratify the Second Amendment, stating that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
|
|
|
|
The Militia Act of 1792 clarifies the role of the militia and requires all able-bodied men ages 18 to 45 to be equipped to serve and participate in annual musters.
|
|
|
|
Kentucky becomes the first state to ban carrying concealed weapons. The law is struck down by an appeals court in 1822.
|
|
|
|
Georgia becomes the first state to ban handguns. The law is contested and eventually deemed unconstitutional by the state supreme court.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dissatisfied with their troops' marksmanship, two Union veterans found the National Rifle Association, to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In response to violence during the Prohibition era and the attempted assassination of President Roosevelt, the National Firearms Act is put in place to regulate and tax machine guns.
|
|
|
|
To fight what the group perceives as repeated attacks on Second Amendment rights, the NRA forms its Legislative Affairs Division.
|
|
|
|
The Federal Firearms Act reaches beyond earlier legislation to require licensing of handgun dealers and ban the sale of firearms to criminals.
|
|
|
|
The NRA establishes America's first hunter education program in conjunction with the state of New York.
|
|
|
|
Scientist Stephanie Kwolek develops the polymer Kevlar, which revolutionizes the concept of body armor. According to its manufacturer, DuPont, over 2,500 police officers' lives have been saved by Kevlar bulletproof vests.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Following the murders of Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert Kennedy, Congress passes the 1968 gun control act. This stands as the primary gun law in America today.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is created within the Treasury Department, with the thinking that the taxation of these items is similar work.
|
|
|
|
The Arms Export Control Act focuses the ATF's attention on international gun smuggling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Firearms Owners Protection Act is enacted. This NRA-supported legislation loosens certain restrictions on gun dealers and stiffens penalties for some gun-related crimes -- while raising the burden of proof on others.
|
|
|
|
The Law Enforcement Protection Act bans the possession of "cop killer" bullets that can shoot through bulletproof armor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Brady Bill, requiring a national system of background checks for gun purchases, goes into effect. The law is named after former Reagan Press Secretary James Brady, who was seriously wounded in a 1981 attempt to assassinate the president.
|
|
|
|
The sale of semi-automatic assault weapons becomes illegal as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
|
|
|
|
New Orleans becomes the first city to file suit against gunmakers, citing a product liability law that requires manufacturers to keep pace with safety technology.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The FBI-run national instant background check for all gun purchases goes into effect. This provision of the Brady bill stops 160,000 prohibited people from buying a gun in its first year, according to the Justice Department.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Teen-agers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School, fueling a new campaign on gun control.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
President Clinton announces a $15 million federal gun buyback plan, to be run through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maryland becomes the first state in the nation to adopt a law requiring all sidearms to carry child-safety locks. The law also makes ballistic fingerprinting mandatory for all new guns.
|
|
|
|
Members of the gun industry fire back at the federal government, with a lawsuit opposing a plan to give purchasing preference to manufacturers who agree to design safer guns.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thousands of mothers and children gather in Washington, D.C. and cities across the country for the Million Mom March, a demonstration for "common sense" gun control laws.
|
|
|
|
The Bush administration ends funding for the HUD gun buyback program. Critics questioned the program's effectiveness and legality, while many police groups supported the program.
|
|
|
|
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first definitive pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history. The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision goes further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact. The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791.
|
|
|
|
Credits:
Associated Press, Infoplease, The Brady Campaign, NRA, DuPont, Defense Dept.
|
|
|
