The Future Of Gun Control

With Wade Goodwyn in for Tom Ashbrook.

Given that the country is awash with guns, is there even a debate to be had about gun control?

We don’t talk about gun control unless there’s a massacre. Until some desperately angry, unhappy or mentally ill young man walks into a high school or a university or a movie theatre and slaughters his peers. We don’t talk about it because it’s largely a decided issue: In the U.S., the right to bear arms is unassailable.

The power of the National Rifle Association is unmatched by any lobby — even the banks look on enviously. Is it even worth having a serious conversation about?

This hour, On Point: the hopeless politics of gun control.
-Wade Goodwyn

Craig Whitney, author of Living With Guns: A Liberal’s Case for the Second Amendment.

Dave Workman, director of communications for the Second Amendment Foundation.

Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its sister organization, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Glenn Rotkovich, owner of the Lead Valley Range, in Byers, Colorado.

Washington Post "Let’s be clear: This is a form of politicization. When political actors construct a political argument that threatens political consequences if other political actors pursue a certain political outcome, that is, almost by definition, a politicization of the issue. It’s just a form of politicization favoring those who prefer the status quo to stricter gun control laws."

Newsday "Analysts say another thing appears clear: Even with 12 dead and 58 wounded, it's unlikely the shooting will spur more national gun control — even a reinstatement of the ban on assault rifles that lapsed eight years ago."

Huffington Post "It feels like I'm stating the obvious and beating a long-dead horse by saying that this country is long overdue for more stringent gun restrictions. The events of the theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado on Thursday night make this claim all the more legitimate."