Recent gun massacres--meaning this month's massacres, not the previous month's--have elicited a flurry of words from the gun lobby's political spokesmen in Washington. President Donald Trump, elected with the help of an unprecedented outlay by the National Rifle Association, said last week that he now supports "very meaningful" background checks on gun purchases. He didn't say what "meaningful" means.
This kind of talk is familiar. It happened after the slaughter of children in Newtown, Connecticut. After the Pulse nightclub shooting. After Las Vegas. After Parkland. Every time, the gun lobby has opposed comprehensive background-check legislation. Each time, craven politicians have done the gun lobby's bidding.
The NRA states that it opposes background checks because they "don't necessarily stop criminals from getting firearms." This appears to be the organization's most compelling argument. One wonders whether the NRA would apply it to laws against murder, assault and the like--which also don't "necessarily" stop those crimes. Few lawmakers in Washington can be swayed by such patently ridiculous reasoning. But the NRA's money and electoral muscle talk, so Americans keep needlessly dying.
Editorial on 08/16/2019