If 'No One Wants to Take Our Guns,' Stop Saying the Opposite

Almost immediately after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting came the calls for "common sense" gun control. The quest almost always begins with a reassurance that "no one wants to take away your guns." Not everyone read the memo.

Nelson Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc., the organization that became the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in a 1976 interview could not have been more clear about his group's goals: "Our ultimate goal -- total control of handguns in the United States -- is going to take time. My estimate is from seven to 10 years. The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns being produced and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition -- except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal."

In 1993, a Los Angeles Times editorial called for the repeal of the Second Amendment: "You will not feel safe, your children will not be safe, until there are almost no guns on the streets and in homes. No guns, period, except for those held by law enforcement officers and a few others, including qualified hunters and collectors.