RE: The HIDDEN HISTORY of GUN CONTROL in AMERICA
New York passed the Sullivan Act in 1911 which required individuals to obtain a license to carry a handgun. The law, still in effect today, gives the discretion of granting a license to the whims of police. The law was originally aimed at Italian and Irish immigrants, who were considered lower class persons by those in power, but also disproportionately affected blacks in New York.
In fact several blue states are still using racist "may issue" permitting schemes to deny people their right to bear arms based on things like race and gender, the entire city of LA has about 300 licensed CCW holders, almost all white men. That's not 100 years ago, that's today. MA in fact expanded their "may issue" scheme to rifles and shotguns a few years back, despite no one here being shot with either type of firearm for several years ahead of the new powers of discrimination given to the police. Southern states all acknowledged that a permitting scheme that allows cops or other people to discriminate can only be intended to facilitate racial discrimination.