Opinion: we will do NOTHING about our gun violence problem.

Oh, I’ve heard it before: “gee, 90 percent of the public including 77 percent of Republicans support background checks.” And yes, polls say that people support background checks…but when it comes to closing the loophole that allows for gun sales if the background check hasn’t been done in 3 days..not so much.

And in 2016, background check measures were on the general election ballots in Nevada and Maine, two states that Hillary Clinton won. Result: about 50-50; narrow win in Nevada and narrow loss in Maine.

The problem being that the GOP's position isn't "deeply unpopular" when actually presented to voters. I wish reality were otherwise–but this issue doesn't have much implication re popularism pic.twitter.com/5Pa2snwAsa

— Aaron Strauss (@aaronstrauss) May 25, 2022

As for the assault rifles (a military rifle with the civilian version having the automatic feature disabled ) we see that Iowa has a bill on the governor’s desk…which allows for deer hunting with AR-15s.

Bottom line: there is no real public will to do anything. The conservatives will say stupid things like “arm the teachers” or “battle harden the schools” but, in reality, their attitude is more “hey, in a free country, stuff happens.” Example:

We are a free society. We can have guns. So these tragedies are going to happen. It’s horrible. But it’s the trade we make. That’s just the brutal truth. It’s no good denying it.

— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) May 25, 2022