![]() More gun control measures are likely to follow in the House, and lobbyist Lawrence Keane will be among those working to defeat them. In fact, Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker-designate, has pledged to make passing universal background checks a priority early in the new Congress. "It makes it impossible, I think, to pass pro-active legislation," he says. Now, with Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, Hammond believes the outlook for gun rights groups is worse. Hammond is frustrated that the Republican-controlled Congress failed to pass one of the gun lobby's key goals: concealed carry reciprocity, which would require states to recognize the concealed carry permits from all other states, including states with weaker gun laws. Hammond's group bills itself as the "only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington," or, as he puts it, "We're the group that keeps the NRA honest." (For example, while the NRA has said it is "disappointed" in the new federal bump stock ban, GOA has vowed to sue.) In his view, 2018 is a mixed bag: "The anti-gun states clearly became more anti-gun and the pro-gun states became more pro-gun," he says. ![]() "In the House of Representatives," Brown says, "what we gained were about 40 seats where we defeated candidates who vote 100 percent of the time, every time, with the NRA." In their Washington, D.C., offices, we walk past a board with bumper stickers reading "ENOUGH GUN VIOLENCE" plastered over the names of defeated Republican congressmen. "Of all of the races that we worked on at the federal level, we won 90 percent of them," says Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence. In the midterm elections, Democratic congressional candidates were galvanized to campaign on a gun control message, with winning results. "They have brought such a level of passion," Anderman says, "and a new voice, a voice from a younger generation that is saying, 'Look at what you have done to us, America. She credits much of that momentum to the student activists from Parkland who quickly mobilized after the shooting and became a vocal force calling for tighter gun laws - a movement that led to "March for Our Lives" demonstrations around the country. In state legislatures this year, Anderman says, "the bipartisan effort was significant, and not something that we have really seen in previous years." National After NRA Mocks Doctors, Physicians Reply: 'This Is Our Lane' That includes eight states, plus the District of Columbia, that passed extreme risk protection orders, known as "red flag" laws. By its count, more than half the states passed dozens of gun control measures. Soon after that, Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont - another gun-friendly state - signed the most extensive gun control measures that state has seen.Īccording to the Giffords Center, this year marks a "tectonic shift" for gun control legislation in the states. ![]() "To pass a package of bills that included an extreme risk protection order, raised the minimum age to purchase guns, prohibited bump stocks, extended waiting periods, and designated $2 million in funding for urban gun violence reduction programs, I think was tremendous," Anderman says. The scope of Florida's legislation was especially notable, coming as it did in a state that has earned the nickname " The Gunshine State" for its permissive gun laws. ![]() Rick Scott signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act in March, just weeks after the Parkland, Fla., shooting. ![]()
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