Many years ago, we didn't have a problem with guns. You could have a gun rack in the back of your pickup truck, with a gun in it, and drive it to school. There were no mass shootings or other similar problems.

Compare then to now, when we have seemingly endless gun control laws and restrictions, and yet we're told that gun crimes are increasing at an accelerating rate.

1968: The Gun Control Act of 1968 comes from Congressman Emanuel Celler's House bill H.R.17735. It expands legislation already attempted by the Senator Thomas Dodd.

1988: Senator Howard Metzenbaum sponsors Senate bill S.1523. It proposes legislation turning every violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968 into a RICO predicate offense, allowing a gun owner to be charged with federal racketeering offenses.

1988: Senator Howard Metzenbaum co-sponsors a bill --- S.2180 --- to ban, or limit/restrict, so-called "plastic guns."

1990: Senator Herbert Kohl introduces bill S.2070, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which bans gun possession in a school zone. The law will later be struck down in court as unconstitutional.

1993: Senator Howard Metzenbaum sponsors Senate bill S.653. It bans specific semiautomatic rifles, but also gives the Secretary of the Treasury the power to add any semiautomatic firearm to the list at a later date.

February 1994: The Brady Law, which requires waiting periods to buy handguns, becomes effective. Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote the Brady Bill. Senator Metzenbaum sponsored the bill in the Senate. The sponsor of the bill in the House was Congressman Charles Schumer.

1994: Senator Howard Metzenbaum introduces S.1878, the Gun Violence Prevention Act of 1994, aka "Brady II." Congressman Charles Schumer sponsored "Brady II" sister legislation [H.R. 1321] in the U.S. House of Representatives.

September 1994: The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 goes into effect, including a provision that bans the manufacture and possession of semiautomatic rifles described as "assault weapons." [Note: true assault weapons are fully automatic, not semiautomatic]. That gun-ban provision was authored in the Senate by Senator Dianne Feinstein and authored in the House by Congressman Charles Schumer.

1995: Senators Kohl, Specter, Feinstein, Lautenberg and others introduce the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1995, an amended version of the 1990 school-zone law which was struck down in court as being unconstitutional.

September, 1996: The Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation provision becomes law. It is part of a larger omnibus appropriations bill. It was sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg. It bans people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from ever owning a gun.

1997: Senate bill S.54, the Federal Gang Violence Act of 1997, proposes much harsher sentences for people violating minor gun laws, including mandatory prison sentences and forfeiture of property. It was introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Hatch, among others. It returns the idea of turning every violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968 into a RICO predicate offense.

January 1999: Senator Barbara Boxer introduces bill S.193, the American Handgun Standards Act of 1999.

January 1999: Senator Herbert Kohl introduces bill S.149, the Child Safety Lock Act of 1999. It would require a child safety lock in connection with transfer of a handgun.

February 1999: Senator Frank Lautenberg introduces bill S.407, the Stop Gun Trafficking Act of 1999.

February 1999: Senator Frank Lautenberg introduces S.443, the Gun Show Accountability Act of 1999.

March 1999: Senator Frank Lautenberg introduces bill S.560, the Gun Industry Accountability Act of 1999.

March 1999: Senator Dianne Feinstein introduces bill S.594, the Large Capacity Ammunition Magazine Import Ban Act of 1999.

May 2000: Senators Feinstein, Boxer, Lautenberg, and Schumer sponsor Senate bill S.2515, the Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2000. It is a plan for a national firearms licensing system.

January 2001: Senators Feinstein, Schumer, and Boxer sponsor Senate bill S.25, the Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2001. It is a nation-wide gun registration plan [apparently there were two versions of that Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act bill].

May 2003: Senators Feinstein, Schumer, Boxer, and others introduce legislation that would reauthorize the 1994 federal assault weapons ban, and, close a loophole in the law that allows large-capacity ammunition magazines to be imported into the U.S. The ban expired in September, 2004.

October 2003: Senators Feinstein, Lautenberg, Levin, and Schumer co-sponsor bill S.1774, designed to stop the sunset [ending] of the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988.

March 2005: Senator Frank Lautenberg introduces bill S.645, "to reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act," in other words, to reinstate the 1994 assault-rifle ban [also known as the "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994"] which expired in late 2004.

March 2005: Senator Dianne Feinstein introduces bill S.620, "to reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act," in other words, to reinstate the 1994 assault-rifle ban [also known as the "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994"] which expired in late 2004.

July 2005: Senator Dianne Feinstein introduces bill S.A.1621 --- Fifty-Caliber Sniper Weapons. This amendment would convert all .50 BMG firearms to NFA weapons.

July 2005: Senator Dianne Feinstein introduces bill S.A.1622 --- Fifty-Caliber Exclusion to S.397. This amendment would modify S.397 to allow suits when the firearm involved was a .50 caliber weapon.

July 2005: Senator Barbara Boxer introduces bill S.A.1633 --- BATFE Safety Standards. This amendment allows law suits to continue/be brought if the product did not meet the safety standards as defined by the BATFE.

July 2005: Senator Barbara Boxer introduces bill S.A.1634 --- "Sporting Use" on Domestic Handguns. Applying "sporting use" clause requirements to domestic handguns could, almost completely, dry up the handgun availability in the United States.

(Compiled by Jeff Woods)