Limits Of Publicity

Bump stocks, devices that turn semi-automatic rifles into machine guns, gained a horrid name in the Las Vegas massacre a year ago. There is no excuse for them and they should have been federally banned. A year later, they are still being sold in 40 states and there doesn’t appear to be a movement to get rid of them. If nothing else, this shows the limits of publicity. The shooting in Las Vegas was international news and covered for days. The bump stock was featured prominently in the stories. Revulsion was universal. Calls for regulation blared once again. Nothing happened except in 10 states that saw fit to ban them. One can call Congress feckless but that would be too simple. There is no national will expressed in voting and activism. That takes hard work of building coalitions, grassroots organizing, petitions and lobbying. In the face of opposition from the National Rifle Association, this will never be easy and failure will be common, but if the public keeps at it, it will eventually succeed.