With the large debates surrounding gun control in the modern day, were there ever laws controlling the use or distribution of swords on a mass scale? In movies and paintings people are often depicted with swords even in everyday life. But how common was it really for the average person to have a sword, and how often would they carry it around?
hi! there's lots of room for more input to cover more cultures, but meanwhile, there are a couple of posts asking about "sword control" in this section of the FAQ*
Gun (and other weapons) control
*see the link on the sidebar or the wiki tab
Yes. In Medieval Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the so called "Three Great Unifiers", went on sword hunts called katanagari (刀狩). Not only did he collect swords, he confiscated bows, spears, and guns. This was done near the end of his life, around the year 1590, in an attempt to keep peace in a country that was rapidly moving toward what we now call unification. When Hideyoshi died and Tokugawa Iyeasu took over the Shogunate, he kept the policy in place.
There were also the less famous sword hunts conducted by Hideyoshi's predecessor, Oda Nobunaga.