The More Things Change . . .

 Five days after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, The New York Times published an editorial entitled "The Right to Bear Arms." Here are a few relevant portions of that editorial:

"The following conversation took place yesterday in a midtown Manhattan store which sells, among other things, deadly weapons: 

. . . 

CUSTOMER: What if I asked for a rifle just like the one Lee Oswald bought by mail?

SALESMAN: Here's the exact model. It's all yours--all you need is to be 18 and have $15.95.

A similar conversation could be repeated in many parts of the United States. If any shocked citizen dares to question the easy availability and unregistered nature of weapons, he will be immediately be told that the Second Amendment says . . ."

After quoting the Second Amendment, the editorial commented that "[T]he 1960s and not the 1780s are the time at issue. A new examination of this Amendment is needed in light of this terrible tragedy." The conclusion of the editorial was: "The ownership of firearms should be closely regulated--far more closely than it is today, and surely as closely as that of automobiles."