[Speaking Truth To Power]
This week, Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.) proposed a new gun legislation bill in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newton, Connecticut which took the lives of 27 people including 20 children by gunman Adam Lanza.
But with the NRA’s strong lobbying position in Washington, will we really see meaningful legislation enacted to impede the easy availability of guns—which would interfere with big business gun sales?
“The NRA’s absolutist position on gun issues is an impediment to the safety and security of the public," Rep. Moran said. "This legislation is designed to highlight that schism, offering popular proposals even NRA members support to prevent more gun-related tragedies."
Congressman Moran's legislation is centered on a July poll survey of NRA members and other gun owners about different gun-reform propositions. The poll conducted by GOP pollster Frank Luntz found that:
• 74 percent of NRA members support criminal background checks on all potential gun buyers — as opposed to current law, which requires background checks only on those who buy from licensed gun dealers;
• 79 percent of NRA members back requiring gun retailers to perform background checks on all employees;
• 71 percent of NRA members would bar those on the FBI's terrorist watch-list from buying and owning guns;
• 64 percent of NRA members support requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms.
The Virginia congressman’s gun-control bill would incorporate all those findings and would include tougher standards for gun owners who wish to obtain things like concealed carry gun permits. Rep. Moran’s proposal comes on the heels of last Friday’s bizarre response, from the NRA, to the nation’s second deadliest school shooting.
Friday, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre held a press conference where he said the tragedy in Newton was the
