RFK Endorses Firearm Legislation

May 20, 1965 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) added his endorsement today of proposed legislation to curb interstate traffic in firearms.

Appearing as the leadoff witness in the second day of public hearings before the Senate Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee, the former Attorney General said: “For too long, we dealt with these deadly weapons as if they were harmless toys. Yet their very presence, the ease of their acquisition and the familiarity of their appearance have led to thousands of deaths each year.

“With the passage of this bill, we will begin to meet these responsibilities. It would save hundreds of lives in this country and spare thousands of families all across the land the grief and heartache that comes from the loss of a husband, a son, a brother, or a friend.”

At the Senator’s back as he spoke was a large display of mail-order weapons collected by the committee, including a duplicate of the cheap Italian military rifle that brought death to his brother, President Kennedy, in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. 

The committee is considering legislation to outlaw the interstate shipment of firearms except through licensed manufacturers and dealers, and particularly to shut off the indiscriminate sale of guns by mail order. The chairman of the subcommittee and principal sponsor of the bill is Senator Thomas Dodd (D-Conn.)

Today, Sen. Kennedy urged the committee to give particular attention to the ease with which such groups as the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Muslims, and the Minutemen have been able to acquire private arsenals, including mortars and machine guns.

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