City to hold vigil honoring those killed in Walmart shooting
FILE – In this March 14, 2017 file photo, an employee of a Walmart store in Garland, Texas, looks at a display of toys to show how a gunman in a workplace shooting on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, entered the store and shot shoppers who were trying to lock up. Several people were killed and two others were injured after a man wielding an assault weapon walked into a Walmart store in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound last month and opened fire. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
The nation that’s come to believe gun violence caused President Donald Trump’s election win has a lot in common with the nation’s gun-control advocates.
It’s convinced that government can do little to prevent senseless gun deaths. And it’s convinced that politicians are more willing to turn their backs on the mentally ill, in some cases because of pressure from the NRA and gun-control advocates.
Trump and the gun-control groups are dead wrong about those. They could put the nation on the path to meaningful gun-control reform. And they could use the success to advance their mission of empowering citizens to protect their lives and their homes, and to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill.
Trump’s critics are also wrong about how they can make inroads with lawmakers. They should think about how to leverage the NRA and its 2 million members and supporters to increase the intensity of their lobbying efforts. They should consider whether those gun-control advocates might help them to push for new gun-safety restrictions in the United States, as well as the U.K. and Australia.
And they should remember what was true about Democrats when the nation was in a state of shock in the wake of President Barack Obama’s re-election and a sense that they could pass meaningful gun control measures. They, too, could have the nation’s attention and make inroads on Capitol Hill.
THE GUN-CONTROL MOVEMENT
Gun-control advocates are determined to stop this senseless violence with smart, common-sense policies.
“We need to take away the ability of criminals to gain access to guns through other means,” said Shannon Watts,