How soon you forget the handgun confiscation initiative on the statewide ballot in Massachusetts in 1976.
It was proposed that authorities confiscate all handguns in the state, including BB guns. Gun owners would have six months to surrender their firearms, after which they would face a mandatory year in prison for owning a handgun.
The confiscation law seemed poised to pass. The most liberal state in the nation, Massachusetts--along with the District of Columbia--was the only place that had given its electoral votes to Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern in 1972. (McGovern had run on a platform calling for a national ban on all handguns considered "unsuitable for sporting purposes.")
Most of the Massachusetts media strongly supported a handgun ban.
The Boston Globe, whose reach extends throughout the relatively small state, vehemently opposed handgun ownership. So did the television stations in Boston.
Early polling suggested that a handgun ban would pass handily. Further, in the 1974 election, voters in several state legislative districts had overwhelmingly supported measures instructing their state legislators to vote for strict anti-gun legislation.
Read how the NRA defeated it:
Against All Odds
by Dave Kopel America's 1st Freedom. Jan. 25, 2012
davekopel.org