Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Armed for a political gun fight

It may be the longest, hottest summer in some time for the gun freaks, mainly the National Rifle Association, which approaches every election with an oppose-everything strategy, doling out money only to those candidates who pledge allegiance to the gun industry's policy of "no firearms restrictions, period."

It may be the longest, hottest summer in some time for the gun freaks, mainly the National Rifle Association, which approaches every election with an oppose-everything strategy, doling out money only to those candidates who pledge allegiance to the gun industry's policy of "no firearms restrictions, period."

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is planning to give the NRA and its minions a dose of their own medicine at the same time that a movement is gaining momentum in some states to take guns away from those identified as potentially dangerous because of mental problems.

Hallelujah!

Bloomberg's well-heeled antigun organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, has begun asking all candidates for federal office in this year's midterm elections where they stand on gun issues. The right answers will win them support from a $50 million pot the billionaire has personally committed in an effort to bring some sanity to the gun issue.

The gun lobby (principally the NRA), without much competition, has been pumping millions of dollars into U.S. House and Senate elections to keep members in line. Bloomberg's efforts are expected to provide an alternative, according to the Washington Post. And apparently it isn't a onetime effort, the Post reported, but will continue into the future. Well, let's hope so.

Meanwhile, states trying to prevent the kind of mass killings that have become far too common are looking at laws that would permit judges to issue warrants to take guns away from people identified by police as threats to society. Connecticut and Indiana already have such laws; California and New Jersey are considering similar statutes following the killing of six people last May near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Connecticut gun-seizure law was adopted in 1999 after the slaying of four managers at the state's lottery headquarters by an employee known to have mental problems. According to state officials, the law might have prevented the massacre of 20 elementary school students and six teachers in Newtown, Conn., two years ago if police had been made aware of the shooter's mental problems. The guns used were bought legally by Adam Lanza's mother, whom he murdered before heading to the school.

In Indiana, the law was passed after the 2005 slaying of a police officer by a mentally ill man.

One can only speculate about whether the enactment of legislation expanding background checks to all firearms buyers might have headed off some of the gun violence by identifying potentially dangerous people. The legislation - proposed by President Obama, backed by Bloomberg, and supported by an estimated 90 percent of Americans - died in the Senate when four Democrats voted against it, embarrassing Obama and revealing a serious weakness in his ability to keep his party's members in line.

In Connecticut, judges can order a firearm seized temporarily if police present evidence that its owner is a threat either to himself or to others. A hearing is required in 14 days to determine whether the gun should be returned to its owner or should continue to be held for up to a year. While this is less than perfect, I believe it is a major step in the right direction.

In any number of events in which guns were used for mass slayings, there have been ample warning signs of mental disturbance. The horrendous shootings by a student at Virginia Tech were followed by revelations that the shooter had been treated for mental illness yet was able to legally buy the guns he used. Gun advocates, of course, say the law is ripe for abuse, a complaint they make about every attempt to reduce gun violence with reasonable policies.

What are the chances that Bloomberg's new initiative will succeed after he failed to win the compromise background-check expansion? The NRA's five million members provide a significant amount of clout after all. But Bloomberg has merged several groups, including Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, into the Everytown group. His expanded operation is also targeting state legislatures.

Nothing about this is easy, but the initiative is at least taking on the NRA where it lives by making lawmakers pay. Doubling the amount of campaign money being spent by the NRA to sway a Congress always for sale might not be enough, but it is a start.