From the exhibit, The day JFK was shot: A retrospective in the Science/History Division of the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County. Running through February. [Photo: David Kramer, 2/22/18]
Running through February in the Science/History Division of the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County is a small but captivating exhibit: The day JFK was shot: A retrospective. Flanked by a life-sized cut out of John Kennedy, the display cases contain newspapers, books and magazines from the library’s collection related to Kennedy’s assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22nd, 1963.
The blaring headlines of newspapers from around the nation still resonate with the shock of that fateful day. The headlines reminded me of other photographs I’ve seen of stunned passengers in subways and trains reading newspapers in silence.

From the exhibit, The day JFK was shot: A retrospective in the Science/History Division of the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County. [Photo: David Kramer, 2/23/18]
In relation to the Parkland killings, often overlooked is that Kennedy’s assassination also led to a nation-wide gun debate.
As reported by ABC News‘ Kevin Dolak on the fiftieth anniversary of JFK’s death, Gun Debate Spurred by Kennedy Assassination Rages on Today (Nov. 21, 2013), a dozen firearm bills were introduced in the wake of the assassination. Most failed, but factored into the overall tightening of gun laws since 1963.

From the Vietnam Veteran’s Walk of Honor in Highland Park. [Photo: David Kramer 2/22/18] Of small note, Kennedy did not die in his wife’s arms but actually survived the trip to Parkland Hospital. See 56 years ago when JFK spoke at the War Memorial. Two days after his debate with Nixon. Nine days after RFK was here.
Gun restriction laws penalize the honest man and protect the criminal element. Even if you did ban all guns, criminals will find a way to get them.
The rhetoric and the flash points of the debate seem little changed in 55 years.
See also Kennedy Assassination and America’s Gun Culture. Watch a 1963 report here.
As explained by Dolak, one aspect of the assassination was particularly vexing. Oswald had purchased his rifle, a Mannlicher-Carcano, for $12.78 through an ad placed in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine by a Chicago mail order house. A ban was introduced by Thomas Dodd, D-Conn, on mail order sales of rifles and shotguns.
Dodd’s bill failed. It finally took the murder of Bobby Kennedy five years later to advance the legislation. In 1968 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Gun Control Act into law, banning mail order sales of rifles and shotguns and prohibiting most felons, drug users and people found mentally incompetent from buying guns.

From the Vietnam Veteran’s Walk of Honor in Highland Park. From In ’68 when Vice President Humphrey and former Vice President Nixon campaigned in Rochester
We don’t yet know the ramifications of the current debates and whether Parkland will be a watershed moment or just another numbing shooting in an unending series of numbing shootings. Nor do we know if the outcome will be more armed teachers or more bans on assault weapons.

Highland Park, 2/5/18 [Photo: David Kramer] From Larry Nassar and the Myths of Violence
November 3rd, 1964: When Rochester’s Senator Keating lost to RFK in the wake of LBJ’s landslide.