Virginia Democratic Rep. James Moran to extend Brady Law back- ground checks to all sales and transfers of fi rearms; a bill by Illi- nois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush to license certain fi rearms and record sales; and legislation from Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas to establish 21 as the minimum age to own any fi rearm. Republicans countered with legislation of their own, including a bill by GOP Rep. Steve Stockman that would authorize staff , teach- ers, and administrators to carry guns in school zones. For proponents of the Second Amendment, the push for addi- tional gun restrictions could hard- ly have come at a worse time. Polls showed Obama, basking in the
afterglow of a November victory, was enjoying a stronger approval rating than he’d had in years. Polls taken after the shooting, moreover, suggested that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough may have been correct when he said “New- town changed everything.” There was strong initial public sentiment for doing something to stop the seemingly endless trag- edies presented on the evening news: Virginia Tech massacre; the Rep. Gabrielle Giff ords shootings in Tucson, Ariz.; the theater slay- ings in Aurora, Colo.; the slaying of Sikhs at a temple in Oak Creek, Wis.; a fi red worker’s murder of fi ve people at a Minneapolis sign company; and of course the wan- ton horror of Newtown.
The backlash to the violence
even prompted some talking heads to predict a shift in public opinion on the Second Amendment, simi- lar to those seen on gay marriage and illegal immigration. GOP leaders in Congress, meanwhile, continued their retreat after being outmaneuvered by a president who, unfortunately for Republicans, used wedges in the political arena much more deftly than he did on the golf course. The GOP’s disarray following the debt- ceiling battles was evident. House Speaker John Boehner proclaimed that Obama wanted to shove the GOP “into the dustbin of history,” leaving gun-rights advo- cates to wonder how much help they could count on from Capi-
UP IN ARMS Gun-rights proponents gather outside the Utah Capitol during a Gun Appreciation Day rally. 48 NEWSMAX | MARCH 2013
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