Politicians reluctant to take on powerful gun lobby

THE massacre at Virginia Tech has ignited fresh talk in the new Democratic-led US Congress to tighten gun laws but it is doubtful enough lawmakers will tackle the politically charged issue.

With so many Americans in love with their guns and defensive of their right under the US Constitution to keep and bear arms, politicians are reluctant to take on gun owners or the powerful gun lobby.

“It’d be foolish politically for Democrats to do it,” said Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. “There’s little chance of anything meaningful.”

Guns are a deep part of the often-violent US culture. Americans are among the world’s most heavily armed people, and the country has among the highest murder rates.

There are an estimated 250 million privately owned guns in the United States, which has a population of about 300 million. About 30,000 people a year die from gun wounds, about evenly split between murders and suicides.

Polls show Americans favour tougher gun laws. But gun-rights groups have helped stop such action by rallying their members, many of them hunters, against it.

Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, said the shootings that left 33 people dead, including the assailant, at Virginia Tech on Monday showed gun bans are the problem, not the solution.

“Isn’t it interesting that Utah and Oregon are the only two states that allow faculty to carry guns. And isn’t it interesting that you haven’t read about any school or university shootings in Utah and Oregon,” Mr Pratt said.

Gun lobbies have helped defeat Democratic candidates pushing gun control. In 1994, after a Democratic Congress imposed a ban on assault weapons, Republicans won control of the legislature, capturing the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. As a result, many Democrats have backed off in recent years.

Democrats regained control of Congress in last year’s elections with many campaign promises but none were for stricter gun laws.

Regardless, shortly after shots rang out at Virginia Tech, Democratic gun-control advocates called for action. “I believe this will reignite the dormant effort to pass common-sense gun regulations,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.