it really does feel like there has been a change this time. maybe i'm wrong. maybe i'm just responding to what i see in my echo-chambery FB feed, but after watching gun massacre after gun massacre go by with no push at all for tightening gun laws, i long ago concluded that serious gun control was politically impossible in this country. it especially felt that way after the gabby giffords shooting. i mean, if having a lunatic shoot a member of congress in the head won't get congress serious about guns, what will?
but this time does actually seem to be different. there is a groundswell of support for gun control that i haven't experienced in my adult life, not after columbine, not after virginia tech, not after aurora, or any of the others in the past 15 years. maybe the swell will pass without anything actually happening. one problem with the current pro-gun control enthusiasm is it is pretty unfocused. people are demanding serious immediate action without specifying what that means. i'm hoping things will get more specific soon. otherwise, i don't think this will go anywhere.
on the other hand, it might not go anywhere anyway. news of the newtown shooting broke barely 48 hours ago. actual legislation takes much longer and will be facing enormous headwinds. i'm not sure if the current change i am sensing will last long enough to get anything done.
but this time does actually seem to be different. there is a groundswell of support for gun control that i haven't experienced in my adult life, not after columbine, not after virginia tech, not after aurora, or any of the others in the past 15 years. maybe the swell will pass without anything actually happening. one problem with the current pro-gun control enthusiasm is it is pretty unfocused. people are demanding serious immediate action without specifying what that means. i'm hoping things will get more specific soon. otherwise, i don't think this will go anywhere.
on the other hand, it might not go anywhere anyway. news of the newtown shooting broke barely 48 hours ago. actual legislation takes much longer and will be facing enormous headwinds. i'm not sure if the current change i am sensing will last long enough to get anything done.
