ce it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary powers of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them" (Gottlieb, 1981, p. 5).
To this end, the Founding Fathers were mindful that civilian gun ownership had played a major role in the American Revolution. "Militia" was interpreted then to mean "every able-bodied man" (Gottlieb, 1981, p. 7). Through the 1800s and into the early 1900s America flourished, expanding across the continent, cultivating the land with rifle in hand. Folklore developed around the gun in relation to the frontiers' fight for survival and the cowboys' own breed of law order. Overlooked during this period were the several assassinations of Presidents and the violence reeked upon the Indian and the slave.
It wasn't until 1934, when the National Firearm Act was adopted, that federal involvement in firearm possession and transfer really began. The Act as adopted covered only fully automatic weapons (machine guns and submachine guns) and rifles and shotguns whose barrel length or overall length fell below certain limits and only concerned itself with transfer of the firearm ("The right," 1982, p. 19). Each transfer was subject to a $200 excise tax thus requiring, indirectly, the identification of the parties involved.
It took the Gun Control Act of 1968 to bring about major revisions of the federal law. The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy during the Congressional hearing phase brought about an expansion of its original intent. Elements of the Act are as follows:
?? 9 Imposed limitations upon imported firearm;
? Expanded the requirement of dealer licensing to cover anyone engaged in the business of dealing firearm;
? Imposed a variety of limitations upon sales of handguns, rifles and shotguns;
? Prohibited transfers between residents of different states,
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