Republicans are now more afraid of voters than the N.R.A.
 | By Susannah Meadows Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
It will be 10 years ago on Wednesday that 26 people, a majority of them first graders, were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. For those frustrated by our country's permissive gun laws, this year marks another milestone — the 10th anniversary of hopelessness. The common feeling among many people for the past decade has been that if Congress couldn't pass gun safety legislation after Sandy Hook, it never would. |
Dave Cullen, the author of two books on school shootings, "Columbine" and "Parkland," argues in a guest essay today that that was wrong. "Gun safety wasn't buried in Newtown, Conn.," he writes. "The modern safety movement was born that day." |
It kicked off a wave of determination among furious voters that eventually pushed Congress to enact significant gun safety legislation this June — for the first time in three decades. As Cullen writes, "Republicans in Congress are taking our demands seriously. They are finally less afraid of the N.R.A. than they are of us." |
Cullen explains that Sandy Hook galvanized two powerful women — one a suburban mom, the other a former congresswoman — to found groups that remade the feeble "gun control" movement into an army of activists for "gun safety." Their message of safe schools, safe streets and safe kids has resonated among people who own guns. |
Still, change is taking a long time — the N.R.A. isn't vanquished. This year alone there have been more than 600 mass shootings. But Cullen makes a strong case that for the first time, there may actually be reason to have hope. |
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