On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a decision overturning a Chicago handgun law. It was the latest in a string of moves by the courts that have made Americans’ right to own firearms as secure today as they were in the days of the Wild West. The 5-4 decision established that all Americans have a fundamental right to bear arms that constrains not only the actions of the federal government, but states and municipalities as well. It was a long-sought victory for gun rights advocates and a resounding defeat for those who favor stricter controls. In the words of conservative legal scholar Glenn Reynolds, Monday’s ruling means that the Second Amendment "is now a full-fledged part of the Bill of Rights."
But make no mistake -- no matter how secure Americans’ gun rights are looking in the courts, the gun lobby will never allow the bitter debate over the scope of the Second Amendment to be settled as a political issue. Guns are too critical to the culture wars -- they represent what Karl Rove called an "anger point" that stokes the passions of the conservative base. Gun politics not only raises right-wing ire, but also brings in big dollars for conservative candidates and the gun lobby.
They’ve worked hard stoking fears of an impending crackdown on gun ownership, and the effort has paid off; according to the Center for American Progress, the NRA saw "a dramatic increase in membership after Obama’s election." Those concerns have also padded the bottom lines of the gun manufacturers that finance much of the lobby’s work. Just after the 2008 election, the New York Times reported that "sales of handguns, rifles and ammunition have surged in the last week, according to gun store owners around the nation who describe a wave of buyers concerned that an Obama administration will curtail their right to bear arms." A year later, CNN noted that "Gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures."
Their fears are clearly misplaced. Whereas just a bit over a decade ago the federal government was enacting bans on assault rifles under Bill Clinton, last year Barack Obama signed legislation into law that contained an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, that opened up America’s national parks to concealed weapons. The fight over guns has moved to the margins, with state legislatures grappling with issues like whether people can carry concealed firearms into airports, whether to ban concealed weapons in bars and even whether a person should be able to get drunk if they are allowed to pack heat at their favorite pub.
Last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who had been the most vocal champion of the 1993 Assault Weapons Ban, agreed with journalist Leslie Stahl’s observation that "you have lots and lots of Democrats who got support from the NRA [in the 2008 elections], and so they agree with the NRA." When asked what she thought the landscape looked like for gun control, Feinstein said, simply: "I wouldn't bring it up now."
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