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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Your big political opportunities are never what you think they are

This is from a long article about American gun culture written by Richard Hofstadter in 1970.

In 1968, after the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., there was an almost touching national revulsion against our own gun culture, and for once the protesting correspondence on the subject reaching senators and representatives outweighed letters stirred up by the extraordinarily efficient lobby of the National Rifle Association. And yet all that came out of this moment of acute concern was a feeble measure, immensely disappointing to advocates of serious gun control, restricting the mail-order sales of guns. It seems clear now that the strategic moment for gun controls has passed and that the United States will continue to endure an armed populace, at least until there is a major political disaster involving the use of guns.

Gun control advocates believe they have another "strategic moment" on their hands right now.  Don't expect any better results this time around either.

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