Many conservatives (see this op-ed, for example) criticize the tactics being used by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and other youths in their remarkable campaign for gun reform. These critics accuse the students of engaging in over-the-top rhetoric that demonizes gun rights advocates while offering no workable countermeasures to stem the carnage from guns that seems to be an all too common feature of American life. Gun control issues are complicated, the critics say, and call for reasoned, fact-based debate rather than demagoguery.
The latter point is certainly valid; effective measures to abate gun violence will only come through the good faith, fully informed and thoughtful efforts of many actors. However, for the NRA and its supporters to press this point is beyond hypocritical. They have spent decades doing everything within their considerable powers to prevent any rational, fact-based debate over gun control. They relentlessly attack even the most modest reform proposals as existential threats to Second Amendment rights. They have gone so far as to actively impede federal efforts to conduct research and even to develop and share background data relevant to guns. While they claim to support rigorous enforcement of existing gun control laws, they often work behind the scenes to subvert enforcement of those laws.
To the extent that the campaign by student activists currently elevates hyperbole over reasoned analysis, it simply takes a page directly from the NRA’s playbook. Unfortunately, this approach probably is the only way to focus attention sufficient to initiate substantive action on any controversial subject in today’s hyper-polarized environment. Hopefully, the students’ campaign will prove to be the catalyst so badly needed to generate real discussion and develop meaningful strategies to address our epidemic of gun violence. The tragedy at Stoneman Douglas already has prompted some “baby steps” in this direction but much more needs to be done.
Henry, you nailed it. I am feeling somewhat hopeful that these bright, articulate, media savvy Stoneman Douglas students will beat the NRA at its own game. For anyone to accuse kids, who witnessed the carnage that took 14 peers and three teachers, of over-the-top rhetoric is the height of hypocrisy. You rightly point out the control the NRA exercises over legislators from the national to the local level. They will continue to manipulate their membership with scare tactics, but I think that these kids have seized the momentum. I, for one, will continue to bombard legislators with emails and calls until they enact sensible reforms. I recommend the New Yorker article on Marion Hammer, the NRA lobbyist who controls the FL legislature and governor. It’s an eye-opening expose on the power this organization wields. It’s scary as hell, and it’s beyond time that the rest of us made our voices heard.