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How many Americans does it take to defeat the NRA's stranglehold? Democrats might have just found the answer

The NRA abandoned the work of representing its members long ago: upwards of 70 per cent of NRA members support exactly the kind of gun reforms American voters at large do

Max Burns
Tuesday 13 August 2019 13:24 BST
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Donald Trump visits Dayton and El Paso after mass shootings

Since 2016, elected officials and public intellectuals have attempted to search for cultural common ground in these hyper-partisan Trumpian times. Though it seems that the shared American cultural experience is no longer music, or cinema, or even faith in Western democracy – it’s coping with the reality of mass gun violence.

The 31 victims of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton bring us one step closer to the dark day when every single American has either been directly involved in a mass shooting or personally knows someone involved in a mass shooting.

For some, this disturbing idea is more than just prediction. Christopher and George Cook escaped the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that left nearly 60 dead and injured over 500. They were enjoying a day at California’s Gilroy Garlic Festival when gunshots rang out. For the second time in as many years, the Cooks had to flee a mass shooter.

The graduates of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, united under the shared trauma of rampant gun violence. They created an activist community of their own, March for Our Lives, and found support from millions of like-minded Americans from both political parties. Across the country, Americans also shared their frustration with the failure of our political process to fix the runaway train of gun violence.

After half a month of partisan wrangling – as the families of mass shooting victims lay their loved ones to rest – there are signs these massacres may be different. In Iowa this week, 17 Democratic presidential contenders retooled their messaging to focus heavily on calling for gun reforms. At the same time, suburban communities – long Republican strongholds – are turning against Republicans inaction and threatening to turn out pro-gun legislators once considered politically untouchable.

Andrew Yang tears up at 2020 gun presidential forum in Iowa

In a country where the public increasingly seem to disagree on fundamental facts and truth, Gallup found 61 per cent of Americans share a deep concern about the easy availability of guns. And there’s evidence that consensus is growing with each jarring act of mass slaughter. According to the same Gallup survey, only 43 per cent of Americans supported stricter gun laws in 2011. That number is now over 60 per cent.

In most cases, American voters are far more unified in demanding gun safety legislation than their elected representatives. An NPR/Marist survey conducted in July found 89 per cent of Americans supported universal background checks for gun purchases – a position the NRA used to support before being co-opted by the radical right.

The NRA abandoned the work of representing its members long ago: upwards of 70 per cent of NRA members support exactly the kind of gun reforms American voters at large do. In a representative system the size of the United States, 60-70 per cent of the electorate should be more than enough to strike fear into the hearts of any elected official. But the NRA has invested tens of millions of dollars into our political process to cushion those unrepresentative representatives from the consequences of their obstruction.

The question now remains – how many regular Americans does it take to override the NRA’s big-money political stranglehold? The ice may be cracking – Ohio Senator Rob Portman, long an opponent of any reasonable gun legislation, recently voiced his support for universal background checks and red-flag laws, which prevent individuals with violent histories from owning guns.

On 11 August, voters across the country pressured Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call the Senate in from its summer vacation. McConnell knows that delaying a vote on gun safety legislation plays directly into a tried-and-true NRA strategy: wait out the storm. So far, it appears the NRA – not voters – has McConnell’s ear.

Democrats have learned to carefully measure their message. Instead of calling for comprehensive assault weapons bans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led his push for gun legislation by championing poll-tested, voter-approved reforms: red flag laws, background checks and banning individuals with domestic violence histories from gun ownership.

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America’s gun violence epidemic is much more than a question of legislation. It’s about a culture of radicalized white supremacy willfully enabled by president Trump.

FBI Director Chris Wray recently warned that young white men radicalized to white supremacy present a more direct, dangerous threat to American security than any other type of terrorism. Despite these warnings, there is little appetite among Republicans in the Senate to investigate the links between white supremacy and gun violence.

Americans in the age of Trump struggle to convince each other of basic things – that facts matter, that Hispanic migrants deserve human rights, that a racist president poisons the entire water table of civic discourse. But when it comes to gun violence, the American public shouts into the political void with the same weary voice after each preventable atrocity: enough is enough.

Two weeks after the massacres in El Paso and Dayton, elected Republicans have a chance to listen to voters and make our country safer. If they shirk that duty, not even the NRA’s corporate spin machine will save them in November 2020.

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