Flashback 2013: "Round Two for Gun Control May Take a ‘Next Newtown’"

We are now at round two, no?

Interesting that the article has since been scrubbed.


Round Two for Gun Control May Take a ‘Next Newtown’
(original link scrubbed) [link to www.nationaljournal.com]

(Archived link) [link to web.archive.org (secure)]

April 24, 2013 | 9:30 p.m.

A week after gun legislation suffered a stinging defeat in the Senate, an uncomfortable realization has settled over the Capitol that it will likely take another mass shooting or similar tragedy to reignite momentum for gun control.

President Obama called last week’s vote “round one.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pledged that it was “just the beginning.” [...]

[...]

“Unfortunately, tragically, regrettably, there’ll be other incidents of gun violence that will remind us of how much is at stake,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who has pushed hard for new gun laws after the December shooting that left 20 elementary school students dead.

The calls for stricter gun laws were loudest in the immediate aftermath of Newtown. But as the weeks and months passed, the powerful National Rifle Association, which opposed virtually any new firearm limits, including background checks, regained its footing.

On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough told Toomey that he was still shocked that the Senate couldn’t pass expanded background checks with 60 votes when it was an issue supported by “95 percent” of the public, as Scarborough put it.

“I would suggest that we heard from the 5 percent who opposed—several times from each one of them,” Toomey replied. [...]

[...]

“If we really want to succeed, what we really need to do is demonstrate that our movement can reward allies and punish people who vote against us,” Everitt said.

[...]

Now, at least, Democrats and their allies have a package of gun-control measures—led by the Manchin-Toomey proposal—ready to be enacted practically immediately. Reid can bring the failed background-checks effort back to the floor at almost any time.

“The next Newtown is inevitable if we don’t act.... This is just our reality,” Everitt said. “Those things can help inform debate and galvanize people to act.”

Last Edited by Ag47 on 10/06/2015 07:02 PM