Will Shooting Prompt Gun-Control Review?

Sure, a more civil political debate would be nice, but what about gun laws? “Today, the amazing thing about the reaction to the Giffords shooting is that virtually all the discussion about how to prevent a recurrence has been focusing on improving the tone of our political discourse,” writes Gail Collins. “That would certainly be great. But you do not hear much about the fact that Jared Loughner came to Giffords’s sweet gathering with a semi-automatic weapon that he was able to buy legally because the law restricting their sale expired in 2004 and Congress did not have the guts to face up to the National Rifle Association and extend it.” Sunday night, Republican politicians like Rep. Mike Lee and Senator Rand Paul were already defending our current gun laws. (Paul trotted out the “Weapons don't kill people; it's the individual that kills these people” line on CNN.) Rep. Caroline McCarthy is prepping new gun-control legislation, but it’s unclear if the nation will get behind it: An October poll showed 44 percent of Americans favored stricter gun control laws, down from 78 percent in 1990.