28th February 2018, 10:49 AM
On the one hand, the activism of the children from that Florida school where the shooting happened is fantastic and really encouraging! We need that, and a lot more people who are willing to put in the effort to fight the NRA and their lackies in Congress, in order to make any progress.
However, considering how insanely powerful the NRA is, how they control the Republican Party and have some influence over the Democrats as well, and how the Republicans control the government now, this will take a long time to get anywhere. It will take not only short-term activism, but sustained effort over years, for the serious change we need -- starting with a real assault weapons ban, more background checks, wait times for gun purchasing, etc, then maybe sometime moving up to handgun restrictions and such. The NRA and its backers won't take any of that without a hug efight and given that they are in charge right now the likelihood of anything happening this year is sadly remote.
Now, there have been some good articles saying that pessimism like mine are part of the problem, that by saying that you give up and let the current situation continue... but that's reality, they are in charge and it will be VERY hard to get any of the gun restrictions the US badly needs passed.
So, may this movement continue...
Also see: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/...#read-more
However, considering how insanely powerful the NRA is, how they control the Republican Party and have some influence over the Democrats as well, and how the Republicans control the government now, this will take a long time to get anywhere. It will take not only short-term activism, but sustained effort over years, for the serious change we need -- starting with a real assault weapons ban, more background checks, wait times for gun purchasing, etc, then maybe sometime moving up to handgun restrictions and such. The NRA and its backers won't take any of that without a hug efight and given that they are in charge right now the likelihood of anything happening this year is sadly remote.
Now, there have been some good articles saying that pessimism like mine are part of the problem, that by saying that you give up and let the current situation continue... but that's reality, they are in charge and it will be VERY hard to get any of the gun restrictions the US badly needs passed.
So, may this movement continue...
Also see: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/...#read-more