Jim writes:
We’ve been assured that the Parkland students “changed the gun debate” and that the gun-control argument may be “forever changed.”
The only really noticeable change at this year’s National Rifle Association’s Annual Meeting in Dallas was that it seemed more crowded than usual, even in a convention center with 650,000 square feet of exhibit space. This morning, the NRA confirmed a new record for attendance, 87,154 members. The previous record was 86,228 in Houston in 2013; most years the attendance is around 80,000.
I’d add another stat: The NRA now has almost 6 million members. At the beginning of this year, the outfit said it had around 5 million. That’s a big, big change in only a few months — just not in the direction that the press seems to believe is inevitable. Meanwhile, the NRA’s approval rating is back to its recent historical average and 58 percent say that owning a gun increases one’s safety. Count me as a skeptic of the revolution.