I think accidents with firearms weren't covered much back in the 80's and early 90's because there was much more news of gun-related homicide and mayhem and other violent crime going on to cover. The crime rate kept soaring and seemed like it would never get better. Who would care about reading about someone who shot themselves accidentally or a kid playing with a gun, when every week people are doing stuff like hijacking cars at gunpoint of average citizens with their babies in the back seat? Newspapers and local TVnews didn't bother to even cover homicides in crack neighborhoods, those were the boring stories, same old same old and too many of them.

Here's an NYT op-ed from right before the Brady Bill got passed. Gives you an idea of what it was like, voters had finally had it with the violent crime but what got it passed was that voters cared more about getting more cops on the street far more than they cared about controlling gun purchases:

THE NATION: It's Moving; Home Stretch For Brady Bill
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: November 14, 1993

WASHINGTON— FEAR of vengeful voters has created a temporary confederacy of liberal and conservative lawmakers dedicated to passing the most significant pieces of anti-crime legislation in more than a generation. After a decade in which Congress endlessly debated what to do about crime but enacted virtually nothing, the Senate is preparing to pass a $22.3 billion anti-crime package early this week, and will likely pass the Brady bill as well.

Named after James Brady, the former White House press secretary who was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, the bill establishes a mandatory waiting period of five working days for the purchases of handguns. Republican and rural Democratic members tacked on an amendment that would end the waiting period regulation in five years, but supporters promised to extend it once it proves effective. Local law enforcement officials would use the waiting period to check if would-be buyers had criminal records. The measure is not foolproof since criminals can buy their guns illicitly.

Nevertheless, the Brady bill could easily become the first major gun control bill enacted by Congress since 1968. Following the assassinations of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, lawmakers banned the mail-order sale of rifles. The Brady bill has passed the House twice in the last two years, but failed to survive Senate filibusters. In the current political climate, a longlasting Republican filibuster is less likely.

While the Brady bill attracts most of the headlines, the Senate anti-crime package breezing toward passage should prove far more significant. Conscious of the angry mood back home, liberals and conservatives have demonstrated a new willingness to work around the contentious issues that divide the chamber.

The primary goal of the package is to increase police presence on the country's streets. Nearly $9 billion would go to states and localities to hire 100,000 new officers over five years. Another $6 billion would be earmarked for construction of boot camps and high-security prisons to alleviate overcrowding in state correctional facilities. Nearly a billion dollars more would go to providing drug treatment for gang members and prison inmates.

Some crime experts criticize the plan for emphasizing police work over prevention. But Senate proponents counter that more patrolling is the best protection Government can offer crime-plagued neighborhoods. "A cop is literally the front line of defense for this country," said Senator John Kerry, a leading liberal Massachusetts Democrat. No Republican could have said it better.

IMHO It's the reason liberals are feared. At all costs, keep the liberals from gaining seats, because once they ever get control of the reigns of power, they're coming for the guns. WE the people would be correct in this assumption  

many liberal leaning web sites have made a point to post them.