GUNS Magazine: September 1957

"WHY NOT Have A Pro-Gun Law," is possibly the longest article we have ever published. It may well be also the most important article we have ever published.

The "call to arms" which ends the story, urging all firearms enthusiasts to write to the Director of the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Unit,Treasury, Washington 25, D. C., to protest new revised federal regulations in the gun law field is a little like Paul Revere's "one if by land, two if by sea." Only now it isn't the "British are coming," it is the bureaucrats.

There has been some serious thought among Congressmen and Senators as to the activities of this branch of the Treasury which administers the federal gun laws. Some congressmen have been outspoken in expressing the view that the Treasury has been attempting actually to alter law, to make law, which is a privilege jealously guarded by the Congress. In "Why Not A Pro-Gun Law," the author brings up to date the present situation in anti-6rearms legislation.

We are now at a crossroads. For decades shooting enthusiasts have been complacent while lawmakers, directed by people who are not all well-intentioned by any means, have been chipping away at the edges of American freedom. Restrictive firearms laws are but one face of restrictive federal interference into American private affairs.

We exist in a republic which is supposed to guarantee liberty under law. When laws become destructive of these liberties, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or to abolish those laws, and to institute new forms of law which shall best effect their safety and happiness.

Old militiaman Tom Jefferson would doubtless applaud this paraphrasing of his immortal document, the Declaration of Independence. Fortunately, it is not too late. The revised regulations are not yet in effect as of press-time. A public hearing on the new revised regulations is scheduled for Tuesday, August 27, 1957, at 10:00 AM, room 3313, Internal Revenue Bldg., 12th and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D. C. Any protests can be made in person there, and Eastern-area readers of GUNS may find their interests best served if they obtain complete copies of the regulations, read and understand their implications, and appear to register their protests in person.

The September 1957 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online. Go to page 22 to read the entire article in question, which brings to light much information I had not previously been aware of (and some controversy, as you'll see when the topic of bearing arms is discussed.) Still, how much fault do we want to find find with an author who advocates eliminating all federal "gun control" laws? And the anecdotes about gun-controlling authorities breaking federal laws, the recap of "Big Tim" Sullivan's corruption, and the refreshing voice of radicalism in that era are just plain fascinating.

And let's not forget the classic period gun ads.

But just to show that even then some gun owners had their heads up...a creek..., there's this letter to the editor:
Good rebuttal, Mr. Mann!