I’m gonna quote some more because he said it better than I could.
This world-weary prediction of inaction is pernicious. It demoralizes those who are actually motivated to fight against gun violence. And it lets off the hook those who are opposed to reform.
By declaring any new effort doomed to fail, defeatist liberals spare their opponents from even having to go on record in their opposition, from having to actually make the arguments for protecting the gun lobby.
Meanwhile, one of the purple-state Republicans who voted no, NH’s Kelly Ayotte, lost in 2016 in a race in which the pro-reform groups went after her for her vote against background checks. No longer is voting with the NRA the obvious safe tack for a self-interested politician.
Or look at Virginia, the home of the NRA. In recent years, Northam, McAuliffe and Kaine have all won statewide elections despite their NRA F-ratings and outspoken calls for stronger gun laws.
But now a new generation may be showing a different way. The burgeoning outrage of so many students post-Parkland is, among other things, a rebuke to liberals who had given up the fight.
It won’t be an easy fight. But the worst odds of all lie in declaring any effort hopeless.
If an effort is in fact hopeless, I see no wrong in declaring it so.
Doing allows you to focus on an effort that might not be hopeless and might save lives, like putting police in schools.
It is not the preferred solution, but, if it is what can get passed and can save lives . . .
Focus on what you can do.