Usually, politicians seize on issues that matter to their supporters, seeing them as opportunities to win over those voters by addressing the political debates they see as important. When a majority of a politician’s voters agree on an issue, that politician is well served by standing as the people’s voice on that issue.
The issue of common sense gun law reform, however, is different. Democrats do follow the voices of their constituents who overwhelmingly support legislation to address the issue. The GOP, on the other hand, has a different fight on their hands. Although the majority of Americans and even a large percentage of their own voters support gun law reform, their largest donors, the NRA, are opposed to it in any form.
As each completely avoidable mass shooting hits the news, the call for gun law reform grows. POLITICO noted in February 2018 that:
‘Morning Consult polling goes back only two years, but support for stricter gun laws was at 58 percent following the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 people, 64 percent following the 2017 mass shooting that resulted in 58 deaths at a country-music festival in Las Vegas and 60 percent last November, after a shooter killed 26 people inside a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.’
With Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, it’s an issue that will no longer be ignored. Whether Congress can come to any sort of agreement, however, is a whole other matter.
Twitter was quick to support Pelosi on this issue. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
