I’ve been saying for days that everybody need to get a grip. Nothing is going to happen on this or immigration. At least not in congress. They’ll spend months flogging these two issues and then let it die. Around the margins through executive action is all that’s going to happen.

“Theatrically the day was won … .”

You and others may be right in implying that the House will kill any gun control, DSW, but theatre is nonetheless important, and sometimes effective. I suspect the key will be how well the movement shames House members from swing districts.

compelling testimony by Giffords and a seemingly out of touch manifestly insane LaPierre further damaging the NRA’s brand.

Went ahead and fixed it up for you…

Tend to agree.

They may dust off some of the furniture, but they aren’t going to move anything around.

Gabby Giffords is my hero, Mark Kelly, too.

LaPierre and Trotter made the day for the Do They Know They Are Monsters Club.

I choose not to give up or give in to blatant fearmongering and handwringing. Joe Scarborough said, I wouldn’t call him un-American, but….

Theatrically the day was won by those supporting more gun regulation with compelling testimony by Giffords and a seemingly out of touch LaPierre further damaging the NRA’s brand. But the realities of Congress have not changed. The House is a dead zone for new gun laws – unless they are for further deregulation.

Correct. The AR-15 semi-automatic rifle is hugely popular in the U.S. and so Feinstein’s bid to outlaw it (and others) will go nowhere.

To those of us who remain relatively sane & touch with some sort of reality in the USA – a seeminly shrinking minority – prime sociopathic azzholes like La Pierre just seem freakishly ghoulish & insane.

But I sure wouldn’t bet the farm that a significant and growing swath of propogandized dittoheads will not get behind and vehemently *endorse* La Pierre’s bullshit.

Some say that La Pierre is only concerned about NRA membership and doesn’t care at all what happens to BigGun and BigAmmo. IMO (and who knows?), I feel that BigGun & BigAmmo are very heavily influencing La Pierre’s rhetoric, as well continuing to buy our “elected represenatives” in Congress, no matter what letter is beside their name.

I sure wouldn’t count on US citizens to come out in real force for sane and reasonable gun control legislation. They’ll appear to be waaaaay outnumbered by the gun fapping crowd bc that’s how our corporate owned fascist propoganda media rolls these days.

Knowong that the most paranoid people around are the PTB and their minions don’t you think they are worried about an “American Spring” where the crowds show up protesting but not with rocks and bottles but with their 2nd amendment rights.

If you want to win this argument pro gun control people must be willing to primary a democrat and win on the gun control issue. Otherwise the 15 ghosts of 94 will win the day. Until someone looses an election because they are pro gun, nothing will change.

LaPierre and Trotter made the day for the Do They Don’t Know They Are Monsters Club.

The only reason they should have been there was to be publicly shamed and told that they are monsters.

The pessimism of this post and of most of the comments above would seem well-founded. Yet, as I said @ 2, I don’t find it entirely convincing.

Let me try again. Everyone agrees that sentiment in favor of gun control in the wake of Sandy Hook is high. (Indeed, that’s one reason the antis are so shrill, with LaPierre getting entirely illogical on “criminals won’t undergo background checks” and Gayle Trotter sounding like a banshee. They are scared.) Can we not press the advantage?

As a post on Seattle’s Slog blog put it last month,

While I’m generally pretty pessimistic about attempts to control guns in our insane culture, it occurs to me that not so many years ago, decriminalizing pot or legalizing same sex marriage seemed impossible. Too politically risky. No politician could go there, for fear of being labelled soft on crime or a fringe lunatic of some kind.

Political organization, money spent, arguments made in public, campaigns mounted: and lo and behold, decriminalized pot and legal gay marriage happened in some places. Only if liberals (and sane conservatives) stay angry and organize, spend money, make arguments in public fora, can we expect any progress on this issue. But maybe we can accomplish the politically impossible again.

After reading that I would allow that, as the marijuana and gay marriage examples show, maybe it is a better strategy to start locally, demanding ordinances from municipal, county, and/or state jurisdictions, than to make a frontal assault on the U.S. Congress at this point in time. (That’s what Obama prescribes, but who wants his advice?) In any case, as Gabrielle Giffords put it yesterday, “we have to do something.”

Another point: As the thuggish behavior of LaPierre’s bodyguards inside the Capitol yesterday would seem to bear out, whatever else the NRA might be it is a meet market for people interested in a fascist takeover. It is not a good organization to allow to win where this can be prevented.

Rachel Maddow pointed out that some are backing away from the NRA.

Debbie Halvorson, NRA-Favored Candidate, Supports Greater Gun Control Measures:

Former Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), a onetime close ally of the National Rifle Association, is backing away from the controversial gun group, according to an email she sent to supporters Wednesday.

It’s not much, but it does show that pressure is causing some cracks…

Too bad they won’t back away from the bankers,health-care lobby and big Pharma….nothing is going to change with regards to peoples frustration of living in a country where poverty is ever more present.

Give people well paying jobs & a decent standard of living and Gun violence will be altered…

There is much gun violence cuz of the economic stagnation & relentless slide into poverty.

This is grandstanding folks.

The PTB are counting on the Second Amend Rights idiots to roll over & play dead, no matter what. And they’re probably right on that score. Give these dittoheads their sacred guns (after all, it’s a big CHA CHING for the BigGun ‘n BigAmmo); let ‘em feel like they “won” big-time; and time after time, these TeaBagger, so-called Rand-Roid “libertarians,” will all roll over go away.

I never EVER expect to see the gun-fappers start some kind of “revolution” or what have you. All they’re good for is screaming about “I want MY WHITE ‘Murka BAAAAACK WAAAAAAAH” at Town Halls.

Nup, the PTB don’t give a feck about the gun-fappers. In fact, for better or worse, the PTB are *happier* than clams when some gun-fapper goes nuts and murders countless innocents. That’s just less 99%ers to whine at the 1%…

JMHO, of course, but I think the PTB clap ‘n cheer when lil Wayne the Ghoul La Pierre shows up with his demented dog ‘n pony show.

The 1% is waaaay more “concerned” with and bothered about the real dissidents, who pull away the curtain, such as WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning & Aaron Schwartz.

The 1% don’t give a shit about a buncha rubes with gunz. The 1% has waaaay more fire power & heavy-duty mercenaries to deal with that rabble. Let ‘em waste money on guns; that mostly keeps ‘em occupied and distracted from who’s really ripping them off.

There are about fifty million gun-owners in the country who might object to be calling rubes, idiots, shrill and insane. In fact I’m sure of it.

So rant away about fifty million people — how sane is that??

Many of them are reasonable people who also think that LaPierre and Trotter are nuts. We’re not saying that all gun-owners are rubes, idiots, shrill and insane.

If gun-owners don’t wish to be depicted in such a manner, perhaps they could form some sort of pro-gun control lobbying organization, to combat the NRA’s dominance? “Sportsmen for Handgun Bans” or some such? Instead, to take one example, my father owns exactly seven guns, all pre-1870 collectible rifles that have not been fired in over 100 years, nor has he himself fired a gun since the 1970s. He is politically liberal and probably favors some form of handgun control.

And yet, he is an NRA life member…if you’re not part of the solution, etc. JMO.