Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

The National Rifle Association is one of the most controversial organizations in the country.

NRA members cheer the group when it stands up for gun rights, even after mass shootings.

It detractors attack with impunity. There is no daylight for compromise.

At least not now.

Decades ago, there was.

In the early 1930s, when gangsters like John Dillinger were mowing down his enemies with machine guns on the streets,

Congress held hearings on a sweeping proposal to severely restrict firearm sales.

The testimony of one man, Carl T. Frederick, now all but forgotten, stood out.

According to a transcript of the hearings, Frederick said, quote,

I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons.

I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should

be sharply restricted and only under licenses. Frederick's words were notable then and now because

of who he was, the president of the National Rifle Association. Today, it's difficult to find

any reference to Frederick on the NRA's website,

and it would be impossible to locate anyone connected with the organization who would say anything

close to what Frederick did in confronting a crisis. Take Wayne LaPierre, the leader of the current NRA,

after a man shot and killed 21st graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School

in 2012. I mean, from the very start, my thought has been how little of us has to do with

actually keeping kids safe and how much it has to do with this decade-long agenda against firearms

that the political, some of the political class in the media have had.

The NRA was founded in 1871 by two Civil War veterans,

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