I know that everyone already knows this, but I suppose it bears repeating. When the NRA says, in response to the Newtown massacre, that it’s “prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again,” they mean exactly the opposite. They will hold a press conference on Friday and talk somberly about mental health. They will blame Hollywood and video games. They will insist that we need to enforce laws already on the books. They will proclaim a willingness to have a “dialog.”
But it will be a sham, as always. They will, as usual, do their best to distract pundits and talking heads with discussions of Xboxes, programs to help disturbed teenagers, and other shiny objects unrelated to firearms. They will continue doing everything they can to demonize the ATF and keep it effectively powerless. They will continue to fight any proposals that would regulate gun ownership in even the smallest way. They will make no changes to the scorecards they keep on their pet legislators. They will do everything they can behind the scenes to slow things down until, they hope, everyone gets tired and just goes home. They’ve spent the entire past week strategizing about how to do this in the smoothest, least noticeable way possible.
We all know this. Just be sure to keep it in mind over the next few weeks. Don’t let mental health or Grand Theft Auto distract you, no matter how worthy you think those topics are. If you want to get anything done, keep your focus on guns and nothing but guns.
