Slogan: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have them. (December 21 1967)

[Jonathan Lighter]

'67-'68 sounds spot-on to me.

The phrase became popular right after the 1968 assassinations of King and
Kennedy prompted a campaign to end sales of "Saturday night specials":
cheap roscoes supposedly marked down on weekends, allowing the impulsive to
pony up just a few bucks to go out and plug that creep.

Good for business, so good for America. There were too many creeps anyway.

I may be senile, but I don't recall the "old" NRA getting very involved.

JL


On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 4:59 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Slogan: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have them.
>               (December 21 1967)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Moving from Mae West sayings, here is another quote mentioning guns.
> Barry posted an entry recently on a common slogan
>
> When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns
> Entry from January 31, 2013
>
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/when_guns_are_outlawed_only_outlaws_will_have_guns/
>
> Barry found a cite dated February 23, 1968. Here is a slightly earlier
> instance with a variant phrasing:
>
> Cite: 1967 December 21, Tonawanda News, Sportsmen's News and Views by
> Ken Sprenger, Quote Page 12, Column 1, North Tonawanda, New York. (Old
> Fulton)
>
> BUMPER STICKERS: We received a call asking where the bumper stickers
> can be purchased that have the words, "When guns are outlawed, only
> outlaws will have them."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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