Found this in my queue to blog from the weekend, but forgot about it:
While there is a long history of regulation of guns, and there are some examples of demonization of other categories of arms in the 19th century (such as Bowie knives), the earliest example that I can find of demonization of guns is a 1960 court decision from New York that compares a handgun to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, tempting the owner to misuse it.
He’s looking for further examples. If you know of any, head on over there and comment. This should be an interesting scholarly work. I’m not convinced that demonization of weapons has ever had so much to do with the weapons themselves, so much as hatred and fear of the types of people that elites believe carry them. In the past, it was hatred and fear of racial or ethnic minorities. We’ve advanced much as a civilization since then, however, and reserve that hate and fear now for cousin humping rednecks.
Or gangbangers. I heard an Omaha Public Schools spokesvermin at a City Council meeting stand up at the microphone and declare, “We teach children guns are bad.” I’m sure similar lying and disinformation is SOP in virtually every school in the country.
In the 1950’s(?) there was a bit aof a scare about switchblades.
Aparently, a knife that can be opened a fraction of a second faster than a standard folding knife is far too dangerous for us civies.
“…reserve that hate and fear now for cousin humping rednecks.”
Like Professors from Columbia University? No, wait. That was his daughter. Charles Darwin was a cousin humper.