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 They have more money than ever before to finance their fight. They
have Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front runner for president,
solidly in their camp, calling for stricter gun controls at campaign
stops - a turnaround from her 2008 presidential bid when she kept
the subject at arm's length.
And two virtually back-to-back mass shootings - with 14 people shot
dead on Wednesday in San Bernardino, California, just five days
after a gunman killed three people in Colorado - could be expected
to help create a perfect storm for gun control advocates to help
elect like-minded candidates at the national, state and local level.
But that seemingly perfect storm may end up being little more than
the rumbling of clouds. Even some gun control advocates concede any
real change in gun laws is unlikely.
“As much as I would like to say that the current madness that we see
in public policy about gun safety will turn around in the next
election cycle, I don’t think it’s likely,” said Charles Phillips, a
retired professor at Texas A&M University whose research focused on
gun laws and has been involved in the movement for decades.
 Everytown for Gun Safety said its membership spiked by 20,000, to
3.5 million, in the hours after the California shooting - in which a
young married couple armed with assault-style rifles left their
infant daughter in the care of a grandmother before opening fire at
a workplace holiday party.
But on Thursday, just one day after the shooting, Senate Democrats
who tried to force a vote on an effort to increase background checks
on gun buyers met with such intense Republican opposition that the
measure never made it to the floor.
America has had a long romance with guns, part of the country's
celebration of individual rights, with the right to gun ownership
enshrined in the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment.
Efforts to pass gun laws have been met with passionate opposition
from gun owners, who are quickly mobilized by the National Rifle
Association, even after previous tragedies like the 1999 Columbine
High School shooting that killed 13 people.
Gun control advocates say this time is different. Galvanized by the
failure of Congress to pass new gun restrictions in 2013 following
the Sandy Hook school shooting in which 20 children were killed,
they prepared for the 2016 elections with a new strategy and far
more money.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged $50 million,
and 75,000 independent donors are also chipping in, according to
Everytown for Gun Safety.
“For the first time in history, they are actually outspending the
NRA in selected contests, and they are working to build a stronger
grassroots base, which has long been the NRA's ace in the whole,”
said Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at SUNY Cortland
in upstate New York who has authored several books on gun control.
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There is public sentiment to support the effort. A Reuters/Ipsos
poll from the final days of November found that 66 percent of
Americans think gun control needs to be addressed.
Grassroots organizations numbering 3.5 million have been formed in
all 50 states with an overarching group organizing their responses.
Women voters – often more sympathetic to gun control arguments
according to polls – are being targeted. In Maine and Nevada,
activists are pushing ballot measures to expand background checks.
“We’re really taking a page out of the NRA’s playbook,” said Shannon
Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action on Gun Sense, which is part of
Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety group. "It’s the first time gun
violence prevention has had the money."
Public opinion, however, remains divided. An October poll by Gallup,
conducted in the days after a mass shooting in Oregon, found voters
more inclined to back background checks and stricter gun laws than
they were a decade before. Yet Pew Research Center has tracked a
trend over the past decade showing some voters growing more
concerned about having their gun rights limited.
Republican presidential candidates and the NRA remain vocal about
gun rights. Speaking Thursday at an event for Republican
presidential candidates, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced plans
in the aftermath of the California shooting for a "second amendment"
even in Iowa, referring to the U.S. constitutional right to bear
arms.
The NRA has taken on Bloomberg, equating his push to require
background checks for gun purchases with his attempt to ban
extra-large sodas in New York City.
"Anti-gun hypocrite," one advertisement run by the NRA during this
year's campaign for the Republican presidential primary said of the
former mayor. "Bloomberg wants to ban your soft drinks and snack
foods, drive up your electricity bills and take away your gun
rights."
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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reserved.]
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