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Not that change will come quickly — any more than it did during the civil rights movement. The nation is mired in an odd space, a wretched and twisted place where reason is stunted, conspiracy rages and fanaticism rules. Even as the blood of gun victims flows from schoolyards and nightclubs and churches, the firearms fanatics insist on more — more! — weapons, more ammunition, more havoc.

Most Americans, sensibly, disagree. A CBS/Washington Post poll conducted in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting showed that 57 percent of Americans favor a ban on assault-type weapons, which were originally designed for battlefields. A 2015 poll by Johns Hopkins found that 60 percent support a ban on high-capacity magazines. But public sentiment is overwhelmed by the relentless lobbying, the conspiratorial fear-mongering and the merciless campaign tactics of the gun lobby, which targets legislators, savages critics and pillories even supporters who stray from the hard line.

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Using statistics compiled by Mother Jones magazine, which has amassed an authoritative database, I counted 29 mass shootings that claimed four or more victims during President Barack Obama’s tenure alone. (While there is no universally accepted definition of “mass shooting,” Mother Jones excludes conventional crimes, such as robberies and gang warfare.) The latest, in Orlando, was also the bloodiest.

Yet the National Rifle Association and its allies resist even the most reasonable and least intrusive measures to improve gun safety. They not only vehemently oppose bills to prevent suspected terrorists from buying firearms or to strengthen background checks; they have also waged all-out war against promising new “smart gun” technology that would allow a gun to be fired only by an authorized user.

http://www.albanyherald.com/opinion/columnists/syndicated_columnists/cynthia-tucker-at-last-democrats-stand-up-to-the-gun/article_d37cbf21-d33e-5023-a6c2-15ef92e7fe98.html