Could The N.R.A.’s Big Victory Backfire?

Like most people, I’m outraged, if not entirely surprised, by the Senate’s failure to adopt any gun-control measures following the massacre in Newtown. In responding with righteous and justified anger, President Obama said most of what needed to be said. Wednesday was indeed “a pretty shameful day for Washington.”

But rather than despairing, which is usually the appropriate attitude when it comes to tangling with the gun lobby, let’s try to look on the brighter side. In blocking an extension of background checks that has overwhelming public support, even among gun owners, the National Rifle Association and the politicians it holds captive may have made a historic blunder. Rather than settling for a compromise measure that would have given gun nuts almost all they wanted—no ban on assault rifles or multi-round magazines, no background checks on private sales between families and friends, no restrictions on carrying guns across state lines, no national registry of gun-owners—the N.R.A. decided to go for an all-out victory, making a mockery of representative democracy.

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