Gun Controllers’ Tactical Amnesia

Is the gun-control movement suffering from amnesia? The coverage of the Senate’s ongoing debate on guns once again makes me wonder.

In the Washington Post, Mike DeBonis casts the Murphy–Cornyn framework that the Senate is currently considering as an “inflection point” and a “a watershed moment” that might, per Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, have the effect of “breaking the gun lobby’s grip on Congress.” Elsewhere, such language is de rigueur. Senator Schumer was quoted a few days ago as saying that he is “pleased that, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Congress is on the path to take meaningful action to address gun violence.” In USA Today, Senator Murphy hailed “a breakthrough agreement on gun violence — the first in 30 years — that will save lives.” At the BBC, Gabby Giffords was quoted as crowing that the measure will “be the first time in 30 years that Congress takes major action on gun safety.” And, in the Guardian, David Hogg is cited as being confident that he is watching “senators reach a bipartisan deal on guns for the first time in 30 years.”

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Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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Is the gun-control movement suffering from amnesia? The coverage of the Senate’s ongoing debate on guns once again makes me wonder.

In the Washington Post, Mike DeBonis casts the Murphy–Cornyn framework that the Senate is currently considering as an “inflection point” and a “a watershed moment” that might, per Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, have the effect of “breaking the gun lobby’s grip on Congress.” Elsewhere, such language is de rigueur. Senator Schumer was quoted a few days ago as saying that he is “pleased that, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Congress is on the path to take meaningful action to address gun violence.” In USA Today, Senator Murphy hailed “a breakthrough agreement on gun violence — the first in 30 years — that will save lives.” At the BBC, Gabby Giffords was quoted as crowing that the measure will “be the first time in 30 years that Congress takes major action on gun safety.” And, in the Guardian, David Hogg is cited as being confident that he is watching “senators reach a bipartisan deal on guns for the first time in 30 years.”