The Connecticut school murders have led to rising public demand for tighter gun controls, just like there was in New York a century ago.
Murder by gunfire was on the rise, particularly in New York City, in the early 20th century. In August 1910, Mayor William Gaynor was shot by a former city dock guard who was resentful for having been fired from his job. The bullet lodged in the mayor's throat and could not be removed. Gaynor, his neck scarred, his voice raspy, and increasingly irascible because of constant pain, died three years later. The brazen shooting of the city's most prominent citizen escalated public demand for gun control.
In January 1911, a former musician, Fitzhugh Goldsborough, stalked novelist David Graham Phillips in New York City. He was obsessed with Phillips' 1909 novel "The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig," which he believed drew on the Goldsborough family's history and portrayed it in an unflattering way.
Goldsborough had come to believe that Phillips could read his mind through what he called in his diary a "lucrative method of literary vampirism."
"Here you go!" he shouted, as he shot the novelist six times on a New York City street corner. Then, muttering "Here I go!" he shot and killed himself.
Phillips died the following day after remarking that, "I could have won against two bullets, but not against six."
This highly publicized murder and suicide prompted even more cries for gun restrictions.
Timothy Sullivan, a state senator from the Bowery area of Manhattan, was appalled by the Gaynor and Phillips shootings —and was even more concerned about gang-related shootings in his district.
Sullivan was hardly a typical progressive reformer. He was associated with gambling, prostitution and Tammany Hall corruption.
But he was genuinely concerned with New Yorkers' welfare. In February 1911, he introduced a bill requiring a permit for anyone to buy a handgun or carry a concealed weapon. Sellers would be required to maintain records of firearms transactions.
"This bill is intended to cut down on the murder and suicide statistics in New York City by at least 50," he said.
New York was out of patience with gun violence. The bill found widespread support in New York City and throughout the state. "Carrying a weapon is an invitation to crime," said Manhattan County District Attorney Charles Whitman. "Reduce the weapons carried and you will reduce crimes of violence."
The Merchants' Association of New York, prominent civic leaders, and even oil baron John D. Rockefeller endorsed Sullivan's bill.
Sen. Harvey Ferris, whose district in Oneida County included a gun factory, was one of the legislators who opposed the bill.
"Your bill won't stop murders," he told Sullivan. "You can't force a burglar to get a license to use a gun."
Sullivan responded that gun makers were against the bill but cited broad public demand, including police and "all the judges of New York City."
New York was finished tolerating "pistol toters" who menaced citizens, he said.
"I want to make it so the young thugs in my district will get three years for carrying dangerous weapons instead of getting a sentence in the electric chair a year from now."
The bill passed overwhelmingly in both houses and was quickly approved by Gov. John Dix.
The Sullivan Law has been challenged in court and debated for more than a century. But its basic provisions are still in force.
New York politics in those days was factious and confrontational. Yet gun control was enacted relatively easily, for three reasons. One, public demand for action. Two, pragmatic political leadership that quietly built support. Three, a measured proposal that focused on registration and regulation rather than prohibition.
Tighter background checks, restricting assault rifles and banning high capacity magazines are among the proposed solutions this time. Others might include heavy taxes on assault rifles, restricting and buying back selected weapons — as Australia did after several mass shootings there. Further requirements might emulate Canada, which imposes a 28-day waiting period to buy a handgun and requires two references.
"To do nothing in the face of continuous assaults on our children is to be complicit in those assaults," says Rep. John Larson of Connecticut. "There is not a single person in America who doesn't fear it will happen again."
Bruce W. Dearstyne lives in Guilderland. He a professor and an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland. He also was a program director at the New York State Archives.