Gun control now? Not likely

by Dennis Coday

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dcoday@ncronline.org

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Mark Halperin says that Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., will have a "marquee debate on the 2nd Amendment fallout from Tucson" on Meet the Press Sunday.

"The two Senators are both smart, principled and long steeped in these issues," Halperin says.

The New York Times story today today begins:

TUCSON — The National Rifle Association has gone uncommonly dark since the weekend shootings here. A posting on its Web site expresses sympathies for the victims of the violence, and N.R.A. officials said they would have nothing to say until the funerals and memorial services were over.

In Washington, bills were being drafted to step up background checks, create no-gun zones around members of Congress and ban the big-volume magazines that allowed the Tucson gunman to shoot so many bullets so fast. Gun control advocates say they believe the shock of the attack has altered the political atmosphere, in no small part because one of the victims is a member of Congress.

Yet gun rights advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said Thursday that there was little chance the attack would produce significant new legislation or a change in a national culture that has long been accepting of guns. If anything, they said, lawmakers are less receptive than ever to new gun restrictions.

Read the full story: A Clamor for Gun Limits, but Few Expect Real Changes

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