Two Years(+1 Day)

Two years ago, on December 14, I headed to my job at a help desk. I was excited more for the evening, as I was going to be picking up a new smart phone.  My mood was dampened by an incident at a small elementary school in Connecticut.  I, like many, thought that 20 kids and 6 adults would be enough to get America to wake up and confront its culture of guns and violence.

Success has been mixed though.  Efforts at the Federal level have been stymied by the NRA and their political 'hired guns'.  The new Congress is likely to be very, very unfriendly to efforts to advance any efforts to pass what many, if not most, see as reasonable, common sense, restrictions.  Of course, the people that the NRA rely on for support are far from reasonable in the opinions of many.

At the State level, their have been some gains.  Washington, weeks after a mass shooting, passed strict background check laws this year.  But there have also been setbacks, my home state of Pennsylvania has given the NRA the power to sue cities who attempt to pass laws to require reporting of stolen weapons or to secure firearms.  As cites, especially larger cities, may be a laboratory for 'gunsense'. 

One area where there have been great advances is on the social front.  Efforts by Moms Demand Action to get businesses like Starbucks and Target to have "No guns in the store" policies, while lacking any legal force, further send a message that open carry of firearms is socially unacceptable.  There are efforts underway to divest from firearms manufacturers, much like what was done against South Africa and the tobacco industry. 

Where do advocates for common-sense legislation go from here.  I think they need to look to become part of greater alliances.  Joining with groups like Move to Amend, that work to reduce the political power of corporations like the manufacturers that bankroll much of the NRA, and the growing new civil rights movement that has sprung up in the aftermath of Ferguson, would give groups like Everytown and the Coalition To Stop Gun Violence a greater voice.

One thing, much to the surprise of the NRA and their allies, is that voices for what seem to many like reasonable limits on types of firearms, and background checks to keep weapons out of the hands of felons and the insane, are not being silenced.  It seems that each shooting, whether it involve 26, 3 or even one, is only making calls for 'gunsense' louder.