-
There’s no denying it: The National Rifle Association has won — again. Even though more than 3,000 Americans have died via gun violence since 20 children and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in December, the NRA has somehow managed to triumph. The victims’ families and gun-control advocates have lost. Forget an assault weapons ban — or any other serious gun regulation. It’s not happening.
— Joe Gandelman says the NRA has already won -
Publication and media outlets that “have assisted in the attack on Second Amendment rights” include pretty much every mainstream media outlet, with the notable exceptions of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal.
— The NRA has an enemies list that’s available on its website. Included on the list are the AARP, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and… Boyz II Men? -
“Let us all return to our places of worship and pray for help. Above all, let us pray for our children. In fact, the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally.” Texas Gov.Rick Perry
(Source: theweek.com)
-
Cartoon of the day: Keeping up with the Joneses
CAMERON CARDOW © 2013 Cagle Cartoons(Source: theweek.com)
-
“The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” claims the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre.If you missed his speech, here’s a rundown of what happened, and how people are reacting.(Source: theweek.com)
-
“I believe every American has Second Amendment rights. The ability to hunt is part of our culture. I have an NRA rating of an ‘A,’ but enough is enough.” —Sen. Mark Warner, who represents the NRA’s home state of Virginia
The polls have shifted since the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings — 54 percent of respondents in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll favor stricter gun control laws, a five-year high; 59 percent back a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips — and several big names in “pro-gun” politics, most of them Democrats, have stepped forward to say they’re reconsidering.
Here, 5 gun-rights advocates who changed their minds after Sandy Hook
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
(Source: theweek.com)
-
The Obama presidency has actually been good for the gun industry. So good, in fact, that the industry came up with the term, ‘the Obama effect,’ to describe the boost.
—Columnist Paul Brandus outlines how gun-rights advocates benefit from Obama’s presidency
(Source: theweek.com)
-
Why are Mitt Romney and his GOP rivals dodging Trayvon Martin? Earlier today, President Obama called for national “soul searching” to better understand how this tragedy occurred. Then Obama got personal: “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. … If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
Obama’s GOP counterparts have been somewhat less open. Until Newt Gingrich spoke out on Thursday night, telling CNN’s Piers Morgan that Martin’s death is a “tragedy,” the GOP presidential field has been conspicuously silent on the issue. Likely nominee Mitt Romney had even ignored reporters’ questions about Martin’s shooting. “Why have they been so noticeably silent… about the shooting of an innocent 17-year-old black boy?” asks Lawrence D. Elliott in Technorati. Here, several theories:
- They fear upsetting Florida’s influential Republicans
Martin’s killing became national news the same week that Romney all but locked up the GOP nomination, aided by a coveted endorsement from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R). Another influential Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio (R), is among Romney’s top VP picks. Both Bush and Rubio strongly backed the expansive gun law that has kept Zimmerman out of jail. If Romney wants to stay allied with them, says Kelly Virella at Dominion of New York, he’d have to stake out “a pro-‘Shoot First,’ pro-Zimmerman stance” that’s out of step with popular opinion. It’s easier, and safer, to say nothing.
- Romney doesn’t want to offend the NRA
Any comments that paint Martin’s killing in a negative light would also sit poorly with another important GOP constituency: The deep-pocketed gun lobby, says Dominion of New York’s Virella. Romney has a cordial but not warm relationship with the National Rifle Association (NRA), which was a major driving force behind Florida’s controversial gun law. In this expensive campaign, no Republican wants to risk losing “campaign contributions from the NRA.”
- Addressing the killing has no political upside
“Who would cheer Romney or Santorum for condemning the killing?” asks Frank Rich at New York. The GOP “has very few African-American adherents and is prone to claiming that all cases like this are hoaxes trumped up by liberals.” On top of that, every Republican is courting the Latino vote, and Zimmerman is half Latino.
Update: Romney and Santorum have commented.
- They fear upsetting Florida’s influential Republicans
