logo

Did the Republican Party favor gun control laws in the 1960s?

Sunday, November 8, 2020
By Jacob Alabab-Moser
YES

Since the late 1960s, the Republican Party has taken an increasingly hard line against gun-control measures. In 1964, its national platform didn't mention guns. In California in 1967, amid concern about the Black Panthers' activism, it embraced a repeal of the state's open-carry law, signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.

The following year it advocated control of guns' "indiscriminate availability" while also acknowledging the right to bear arms. In 1972, the platform again acknowledged this right, while also promoting gun crimes prosecution. In 1976, Republicans came out against a federal firearms registry. In 1980, the party called to repeal parts of the 1968 Gun Control Act, which its members had helped pass.

By 2016, the party was decidedly against most gun regulations, focused on a citizen's right to purchase and carry firearms.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
FACT BRIEF BY
facebook
twitter
email
email