Win, Lose or Draw?

It looks like a deal in Congress on legislation to curb gun violence is in sight. The problem is, it may not amount to much. 

Not included in the deal is a provision to ban assault weapons, left out to appease the "law-abiding citizens" who take seriously their Second Amendment rights.  (If you can think of any examples where a law-abiding citizen needs an assault rifle, please leave a comment on this blog post.)  Instead, the bill being proposed aims to provide resources to state and local governments to enact "red flag" laws to prevent guns from getting in the wrong hands - which has shown encouraging results in Florida - and expands support for mental health resources to get at the heart of what would make someone want to use an assault weapon in public spaces in the first place.  Also in the agreement are funds to help school security and closing the "boyfriend loophole" to prevent gun sales to unmarried people found guilty of domestic violence against a partner in a relationship.

Many progressives are likely to complain about the framework for gun legislation because it does nothing to reduce the quantity of guns in America.  But others have pointed out that some countries like Canada also have a gun for every man, woman and child, and yet the firearm homicide rate in Canada is much lower than in the U.S.  Maybe the root of the problem isn't the weapons at all but is in fact the sort of people who get their hands on them.  Not to mention Americans' fear of each other.

Doing something small at this point is better than doing nothing.  And I give Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT, above) a lot of credit for taking the initiative to get anything done at all.