Johnson’s bill would ban all mail-order and out-of-state sales of handguns, shotguns and rifles; prohibit the sale of guns to minors; and require national registration of all guns and licensing of all gun owners. There had been little hope of enactment. But the day after Kennedy died from gunshot wounds, LBJ renewed his pressure on the Senate Judiciary Committee to report his bill out and send it to the Senate floor for a vote.What's fascinating is the way pro-gun folks talk about licensing and registration as if it could never happen. Back in the '60s, it was only prevented by a tie vote. How many of the know-it-all gun-rights advocates even knew that?
Maryland Sen. Joseph Tydings, a close friend of Kennedy, and a couple of Democratic colleagues wanted the committee to consider a bill they believed was stronger. LBJ thought the Tydings proposal had no chance of passage and feared that any delay to consider it would give the gun lobby time to kill his legislation.
That’s exactly what happened. The Tydings proposal never got beyond the discussion phase, and LBJ’s comprehensive bill failed by a tie vote in the committee. With relentless pressure, he was able to get a bill by October with a prohibition against mail-order sales (LBJ called it “murder by mail order”), sale of guns to minors and importation of “$10 specials,” or cheap guns that were pouring into the country. But Johnson’s pet proposals to license all gun owners and register all guns were defeated.
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