Based on various observations over the holiday season, it's becoming increasingly clear that new gun control legislation will be the biggest political fight of 2013, perhaps on par with the ongoing negotiations on the deficit and debt.
Yes, I know. It's difficult to believe considering the shocking obscenity of Sandy Hook, but as the trauma wears off and with the holidays providing a cooling-off period, the Republicans will probably ease back into their mutually-masturbatory relationship with the NRA and resist new legislation against assault rifles and extended ammunition magazines. And those last two things are part of the problem. It appears as if the Democrats are predictably opening the fight with an already compromised position: basically more of the same gun control legislation that barely seems to stick to the wall.
While the Republicans are leading with supremely radical ideas for mitigating gun massacres in schools alone (they're occurring in more places than just schools, by the way), the Democrats ought to be taking a similarly tough opening position. [continue reading]