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David Roosevelt Gun Control Essay

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Prior to Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic party didn’t have much interest in federal gun control. The regulation of guns was held at the state-level. When Prohibition-era gangsters were able to overwhelm local police resources in the 1920s and 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt saw an issue. He originally proposed a “New Deal for Crime”, which later became the National Firearms Act of 1934. This was the law regarding gun control on the federal level in United States history. It sought to place a tax on firearms and require registry of all guns. Obviously, gun owners did not agree, so only weapons thought to be “gangster weapons with no usefulness for self-defense” (Adam Winkler) were required to be registered, a weaker form of Roosevelt’s proposal, …show more content…

He called this “The Hundred Days”, which was the first installment of The New Deal. This was possibly the largest burst of legislative accomplishment in the history of the United States. He did this by calling Congress to session and basically declaring the urgency of the legislation he needed to be passed. The Senate at the time was very proactive, passing multiple pieces bills without even reading the entire text. Their reason was simply that “reading takes too long.” Roosevelt actually signed his first bill into law only 8 hours after it was sent to Capitol Hill. Roosevelt began delivering “fireside chats”, small talks given over radio that were used to give ‘peace of mind’ to distressed Americans. Meanwhile, he passed his second piece of legislature, only taking about two days. Congress remained in session until mid June, 1933, 100 days after it was called into session. In 1935, he called Congress into session once again for the Second Hundred Days, a follow up to The First Hundred Days, and the second phase of The New Deal. He passed many more bills as well as utilizing executive order to accomplish long-term goals for the country. If Roosevelt were put in a similar position today, his actions would be predictable, however their outcome would not. For the sake of this essay, let’s assume that congress would have a democratic majority similar to the one

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