History in Hindsight

On May 6, 1994, the Public Safety and Recreational Fi****ms Use Protection Act, better known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, was passed by the House of Representatives. It prohibited the manufacture, transfer, or possession of the AR-15, TEC-9, Kalashnikov, U*I, Street Sweeper shotguns, a total of 18 rifles, shotguns and pistols with large capacity ammunition feeding devices. It also included a 10 year sunset provision and a grandfather clause allowing for possession and transfer of weapons lawfully possessed on the date of the enactment. President George H.W. Bush had banned similar foreign manufactured weapons in 1989 deemed not to have a legitimate sporting use, but did not include those domestically manufactured. In 1993, 77% of Americans supported a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of assault weapons, and though the NRA opposed the legislation, a letter penned by former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford to the House in May of 1994 urged them to act. It was passed as a part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that adopted the "3 strikes" provision, eliminated higher education for inmates, instituted "boot camps" for delinquent youths, added 60 new offenses that could be punished by the death penalty, greatly increased the incarcerated population of the US in for profit jails and today is widely seen as one of the most harmful pieces of legislation ever. The Assault Weapons Ban faced numerous court challenges, which all upheld the ban, though it was never directly challenged under the 2nd Amendment. Several attempts to renew fail, and it expired in 2004. The effects of the ban have been disputed. Having only existed for a decade, its overall effect on the gun culture did not have time to take root. The Act also had numerous loopholes that allowed manufacturers to, for example, modify existing weapon designs so that they did not fall under the ban. Overall crime during the time it was in place did reduce, as did the occurrence of mass shootings, however generally, gun related violence and homicides did not drop. @ Washington, District of Columbia

On March 29, 1795, Ludwig van Beethoven played his first concert in Vienna, marking the beginning of a public career that would see him become one of the most renown musical geniuses of all time. On the same day 32 years later, 20,000 people would fill the streets of Vienna to pay their final respects.

Beethoven was born into a family of musicians in what is now Belgium. His father was his first teacher, fashioning him as a new Mozart and a child prodigy, performing for the first time at the age of 7. His musical talents were quickly recognized and eventually, as he outgrew his father's lessons, began taking lessons from other prominent musicians in the region. He published his first work at the age of 12, drawing the attention of Habsburg Archduke Maximilian Frederick who encouraged and subsidized the young prodigy's studies. He was invited to Vienna at the age of 17 to continue his studies, intending to learn from Mozart, however the master was in the late stages of his life, and mental as well as physical health issues prevented the two from ever working together.

The death of Ludwig's mother forced him back to his hometown of Bonn to care for his brothers for the next 5 years, working as a court performer and tutor of aristocrats to support the family, composing a number of significant works in his spare time. Joseph Haydn (aka the "Father of the Symphony") met the boy while traveling through Europe and upon the outbreak of war in France, made arrangements to have him study under his tutelage in Vienna where Beethoven would permanently establish himself while receiving the patronage of many a noble. He supported himself by selling copies of his compositions and performing. His concerts became so popular that he was able to charge 3x the normal price for entry.

In 1798, Ludwig became so enraged at being interrupted from his work that he fell, hit his head and lost his hearing. He would partially recover for a time, but his condition would gradually worsen until it was lost completely by 1814, causing severe depression, suicidal thoughts, and, at least initially, a slowdown in his musical output.

Though he would eventually go on to produce some of his most memorable compositions during this period, he had tremendous difficulty performing, taking a 12-year hiatus after a failed attempt to play one of his piano concertos in 1811. When he returned to premiere his Ninth Symphony (his last) in 1824, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the crowd in appreciation for what became known as one of his seminal works.

Beyond the loss of his hearing, Beethoven would encounter many other challenges in his life. The subjects of his affection were unable to marry him due to his official status as a commoner, something that also hampered him while fighting for custody of his nephew after the death of his brother and financial manager in 1815 because of perceived immorality of his sister in law.

Ludwig's general health would begin to deteriorate around that time as well, culminating with his death in 1827. Autopsies would find significant liver damage due to heavy use of alcohol during his depression, but a number of other potential causes, including accidental lead poisoning from medical treatment as his health got worse, have been presumed to have cut his life short. His music, however, will live on in perpetuity as an influence to future musicians. Ludwig van's 5th symphony, as well as his 13th string quartet, were included on the Gold Records aboard the Voyager spacecrafts that are now more than 13 billion miles from Earth.

On March 25, 1911, 123 women and 23 men died in a fire that consumed the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory on the east side of Washington Square Park. There had been more than 500 working that day, mostly young immigrant women that worked in close quarters for 12 or more hours per day for, at most, $15 per week. The fire started in a scrap cloth bin under a sewing table, likely due to a discarded cigarette. There had been thousands of pounds of scrap cloth over the 3 floors of the factory which enabled the fire to spread rapidly. Boxes of scraps also blocked exits, and others had been locked to prevent the women from dipping out for a break and theft. Many of those responsible for checking the women's bags when they left each shift fled when the fire started, still holding the keys to the doors. Those that were unlocked, opened inward instead of outward, creating a struggle to exit as the fire intensified.The architect of the building had been given special permission to build 2 staircases instead of the standard 3, provided he add a fire escape, which was poorly constructed and collapsed during the fire, plunging 20 people to the street 100' below. The elevator held 12 people at a time, but were overpacked in the chaos and broke after only four trips. Some workers pried the doors open, attempting to slide down cables to the bottom of the shaft. Horsedrawn fire engines arrived about 20 minutes after the start of the fire, but worn hoses and short ladders provided little relief. With no escape, a man chose to escape the flames through the windows, and then another who kissed a young woman before they took the leap together. 59 more people chose to meet their ends in this way, with the horrified onlookers learning a new sound they would not soon forget. Both owners, their families, and company executives were included among those able to flee to safety through the roof. The bodies were collected in makeshift morgues, with many only identifiable through their jewelry. In the driving rain, a procession of 100,000+ accompanied the hearses in a memorial down 5th Avenue, with thousands more lining the streets in support. A jury acquitted the owners of manslaughter after the prosecution was unable to prove they knew the doors had been locked intentionally. A liability suit in 1913 awarded $75 per victim to families. The owners profited $60,000 from the accident via a favorable insurance policy, about $400 per victim. That same year one of the owners was arrested again for locking the doors to his factory during working hours. He was fined the minimum, $20. They also had 4 prior suspicious fires at their factories. The fire sparked a wave of labor protection, union organization and fire prevention acts, making NY a leader in labor legislation, a legacy that lasts today. A remembrance coalition chalks the names of the victims and cause of death in front of their former homes. The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It was the deadliest workplace tragedy in NYC until 9/11.

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon-Valdez oil tanker struck a reef and spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, eventually spreading over 1300 miles of Alaskan coastline. It was the largest oil spill in US history until the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010. Exxon made the Captain, Joseph Hazelwood, the scapegoat as it had been widely reported that he had been drinking heavily before the crash, but he was later cleared after testimony from crew members found that he was sober and asleep, having left the third mate at the helm at the time the tanker collided with the reef. It was later revealed that the ship was equipped with a radar system that should have alerted the crew to the danger nearby, however it had been disabled for over a year and Exxon management chose not to repair it due to cost. In addition, Exxon had cut the size of ship crews roughly in half from the decade prior, while forcing them to work regular 14-hour shifts. The Exxon-Valdez had also been expecting an es**rt as they sailed outside normal sea lanes to avoid icebergs and the reef, but the Coast Guard had recently ceased doing so and had not informed the crew. Due to the remote location, Exxon was slow to respond to the crisis, and despite a massive cleanup effort that cost over $2 billion, only 10% of the spilled oil was ever removed from the ecosystem. Thousands of gallons of oil still remain on the beaches of Alaska, and the government has reported that only 13 of the 32 monitored wildlife populations in the aftermath of the disaster have fully recovered. The herring population, once a source of a vibrant fishing industry, has never recovered, Animals such as bald eagles, brown bears, seals, humpback whales and many more who depend on the herring have all suffered great losses. Two unique pods of orca have lost more than half their members and have yet to produce new calves in the time since the spill, leaving almost certain the reality that they will go extinct. Exxon has brushed aside concerns over the remaining oil, citing "350 peer-reviewed studies of Prince William Sound, which conclude that PWS has recovered, is healthy and thriving." The initial lawsuit against Exxon awarded $5 billion to the victims of the spill, on which the company took out a $5 billion credit line from JP Morgan, who in turn created the world's first Credit Default Swap against the loan. After an appeals process that lasted nearly 20 years, the US Supreme Court reduced the award to just over $500 million.