Why haven't we demanded stronger gun laws?

[SecularMotion]

"There's someone at the Jewish community center with a gun," my husband said on the phone. His voice was strained. My mind raced to grasp the meaning; had someone been shot?

Frightened by the phone call, I rushed to the Jewish community center (JCC) where our two sons were at summer day camp. The radio news said that 6- and 8-year-old boys, the ages of our boys, had been shot. I panicked that my sons were gone on a morning when I had left so early for work that I hadn't kissed them goodbye or told them that I loved them.

Later, I would learn that a white supremacist shot five people at the JCC; one of the injured was my 6-year-old son. My child, the picture of innocence, was targeted by a hate-filled, mentally ill man with easy access to powerful firearms and an arsenal of ammunition. After unleashing a barrage of 70 rounds in seconds at the JCC, the shooter murdered Joseph Ileto, a Filipino-American postal worker who was delivering mail.

It happened 15 years ago, on Aug. 10, 1999. My son, now 21, has joined the growing legion of survivors of gun violence. It's not a fraternity he wanted to be a part of, but once you're in, membership is lifetime. Our family and friends are among the millions who suffer the collateral damage of gun violence. But we're the lucky ones, because our loved one survived. In the United State, where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are proclaimed, my son was shot at day camp, and I consider myself to be lucky.

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_26308175/why-havent-we-demanded-stronger-gun-laws

[samsingh]

1. good question

[yeoman6987]

2. 2nd Amendment!

[samsingh]

15. interpretation by selfish interests only

[Lurks Often]

3. You have demanded stronger gun laws

and gun control extremists pushed so hard that gun owners woke up and started pushing back.

It's been 20 years since the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, arguably the high water mark for the gun control side. In those 20 years the gun control extremists have lost most of the major court cases, lost in most of the state legislatures and lost in Congress and the future doesn't look too bright for the gun control extremists.

[kelly1mm]

4. Many have demanded. Simply put, there is not enough political will to enact such legislation.

Also, even if justified, the 'righteous indignation' of some gun control supporters is not actually a selling point for their cause. Similar to saying any criticism of President Obama is racism basically ends the discussion.

[virginia mountainman]

5. The voter has demanded looser gun laws..

And in most of the nation, they are winning...

[ManiacJoe]

6. Better enforcement of current laws would help much more than more laws.

[russ1943]

7. We have demanded stronger gun laws.

The NRA bought and paid for legislators in congress won’t allow them.
How A New Book Revises The Gun Lobby's Post-Newtown Intransigence
…..the real story of how illegal guns were addressed after Newtown shows that the NRA actually opposed proposals to stop the illegal trafficking of firearms at every step. The NRA also played a pivotal role in blocking background check legislation………the NRA language "would just be one more toothless federal gun law cleverly written to accomplish practically nothing," because it would "dismantle the straw purchaser provisions at the heart of" Leahy's original bill and because the NRA bill's "standard of proof is so high that it would be impossible to prosecute………………….The NRA gambit is simply an attempt to distract the Senate from supporting the much stronger measure………………..In the end, the NRA's Senate contingent blocked the background check proposal and along with it prevented any changes from being made to illegal gun trafficking laws.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/08/07/how-a-new-book-revises-the-gun-lobbys-post-newt/200343

[oneshooter]

9. "The NRA bought and paid for legislators in congress won’t allow them."

Do you have any proof of this accusation? Or are you just wildly slinging shit in the hope the smell will prove you correct?

[russ1943]

10. You are asking for proof that.......

..........NRA has bought and paid for legislators in congress that won’t allow stronger gun laws?
My original link @ MediaMatters provides one source re the “won’t allow” aspect. See also http://www.thirdway.org/publications/675 The “bought and paid for” is part poetic license, The Center for Public Integrity’s Gun lobby's money and power still holds sway over Congress @ http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/05/01/12591/gun-lobbys-money-and-power-still-holds-sway-over-congress explains some of what I meant. The Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org/news/issues/guns/vote_2013.php provides further information with statements like “the NRA and other gun rights groups wield an enormous amount of influence in Washington”, & “If lawmakers seem to tiptoe around gun issues, it's at least in part because the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups are loaded for bear. Cash is their ammunition, and they have no shortage of it.”
Not shit slinging, not my style.

[blueridge3210]

13. Legislators representing the interests of their constituents

equals "bought and paid for". Got it.

[oneshooter]

14. So instead of hard, provable facts you have" poetic license".

[DonP]

16. But, but , but ... 90% of voters and 75% of NRA members agree with more gun control!

With Bloomberg funding gun control with $50 million this year alone ... and "90% of the voters agreeing they want more", some puny NRA donations (all of which are public record) shouldn't stop you.

Why the voters will just throw all those recalcitrant Pro Gun Representatives and Senators out on their ass. Right?

You and your ilk just keep using that as a feeble excuse for failure, when you couldn't even get the Dems in the Senate to vote for more gun laws.

[HALO141]

18. Are we supposed to believe

that those legislators bought and paid for by Bloomberg are superior to the other ones?


No thanks.

[Matrosov]

8. Because the NRA is better

The NRA and its members are much better at keeping persistent pressure on politicians to vote down any new meaningful gun legislation.

On the other hand, the majority of gun-control advocates seem to be vocal only when something major is in the news, such as a school shooting. All the energy is expended in one big push, and when that pressure isn't enough to overwhelm the NRA-backed opponents outright, gun-control advocates for the most part then withdraw again.

[meathead]

19. Quite true

My range has approx. 3000 members, 100% in the NRA. They are 70% single issue voters and very politically active.

[mwrguy]

11. Gun industry $$

Doled out by the NRA

[ileus]

12. because as a nation we've stopped buying into the BS hyperbole.

[aikoaiko]

17. Gun restrictionists need to work with the NRA if they want to achieve anything meaningful.

Purely emotional appeals and meaningless gun bans are doomed to fail.

[Straw Man]

20. Exactly.

When you make it a culture war, don't be surprised when the other side fights back.