Today is Gun Appreciation Day. While (lol) HUNDREDS of gun nuts protest for guns in one or two cities, the real action is taking place in state legislatures, where gun control legislation is rampant.
Sounds like the beginning of the end of the influence of the NRA.
Sounds like the beginning of the end of the influence of the NRA.
New gun control bills are flooding into state legislatures around the country, among the clearest signs that the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults in a Connecticut elementary school last month have galvanized lawmakers and the public on the issue of guns.
While pro-gun lawmakers have filed dozens of measures to loosen gun regulations since the shooting, including bills allowing schoolteachers to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, these proposals are significantly outnumbered by bills pushing stronger gun laws, according to data that the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an advocacy group that tracks federal and state gun laws, shared with The Huffington Post.
Indeed, the states are much more active around gun legislation than lawmakers in Congress, highlighting the role states can and will play in the gun control debate even if the divisive issue continues to stymie the federal government.
Perhaps most significantly, legislators are floating bills to strengthen gun regulations in swing states like Virginia and Colorado, where pro-gun advocates have long been perceived to have the upper hand.
"We're seeing it in places you might expect, and places you might not expect, and we're seeing it because Sandy Hook broke America's heart," John Feinblatt, chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and a top advisor to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said of the recent burst of state legislation.