Yes, physical violence was once more common, including in the halls of government. Here's a NYT OpEd from this week, by a Yale historian, describing the shootings, canings, fisticuffs, etc.. More things than that that have changed since the Civil War, as they should. Idealizing the past is a mistake, especially in discussions of government. The challenge is to continue to move forward in a positive way.

I'm curious what you think of Nicholas Kristoff's suggestions today about gun regulation, olddude? --

>> • Limit gun purchases to one per month per person, to reduce gun trafficking. And just as the government has cracked down on retailers who sell cigarettes to minors, get tough on gun dealers who sell to traffickers.

• Push for more gun safes, and make serial numbers harder to erase.

• Improve background checks and follow Canada in requiring a 28-day waiting period to buy a handgun. And ban oversize magazines, such as the 33-bullet magazine allegedly used in Tucson. If the shooter had had to reload after firing 10 bullets, he might have been tackled earlier. And invest in new technologies such as "smart guns," which can be fired only when near a separate wristband or after a fingerprint scan.

We can also learn from Australia, which in 1996 banned assault weapons and began buying back 650,000 of them. The impact is controversial and has sometimes been distorted. But the Journal of Public Health Policy notes that after the ban, the firearm suicide rate dropped by half in Australia over the next seven years, and the firearm homicide rate was almost halved. <<

~ Becky in Long Beach