Quote:
What's new? News outlets were utterly certain that "assault weapons" and "high-capacity clips" needed to be banned after the Virginia Tech shootings, the Giffords shootings, and the Aurora theater shootings. After each recent mass shooting, anti-gun types in the media tried their best to persuade people to endorse gun control without thinking about anything but sympathy for the victims.
Wait for the media's sympathy blitz to burn out. Right now, there is no pretense of rational discussion; the media's response to pro-gun arguments is to run stories about the funerals of small children. After the funerals are done, and everyone enjoys the holidays, and the media's focus shifts to the 'fiscal cliff' wrangling, things will look much different.
|
I'm somewhat inclined to agree with this. Aside from the usual suspects like Feinstein, McCarthy, Schumer, and the various pundits on a cable news channel that will remain unnamed, most of the democratic party seems to be addressing the issue rather tentatively. The president himself seems very hesitant to mention specifics about what should be done and nearly everyone seems to agree that gun control, in and of itself, isn't going to solve the problem. Gun ownership is more widespread and mainstream now that it's probably been in the last 30 years and the percentage of gun owners who are interested only in "sporting" guns is dwindling quickly. Also, most of the "swing" states that both parties need in order to win elections are midwestern, southern, or western states like Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, and New Mexico where gun control isn't popular.
Also bear in mind that there really hasn't been any debate thus far because only one side has been talking. I've yet to see any comment from the NRA, SAF, or any other notable pro-2A group. Once they weigh in (the NRA is supposed to have a press conference on Friday), I doubt the argument will be so one-sided. Basically, I think the politicians are testing the waters on this right now and, if there seems to be much chance of a backlash due to new gun control, they'll likely let the issue be buried in committee to quietly die.