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Noah Rothman in Commentary:

“The American left honestly wants to see gun violence in America reduced. But appealing to the same failed tactics over and over suggests that they’re only preening for the advantage of their like-minded audience. The people they need to convince tuned out years ago.”

The problems Mr. Rothman sees in the liberal approach to increasing gun control include “displays of cultural hostility that masquerade as exhibitions of policy-oriented seriousness.” He holds particular contempt for “attacks on the prayerful” because, he sarcastically posits, “prayer for victims of violence is another waste of a few private minutes that could be spent crafting and passing new gun legislation.” And Mr. Rothman says that the “same failed tactics” of persuasion will not work. Read more »

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Ben Shapiro in The Daily Wire:

“Good policy is good regardless of timing; bad policy is bad regardless of timing. But when something horrific occurs, it’s in the interest of those pushing a related policy to suggest that those who oppose the policy somehow don’t care enough about victims.”

Among the reasons that Mr. Shapiro thinks the immediate aftermath of the shooting is a poor time to talk about gun control policy: The “motive of the shooter is still unknown,” and “how the shooter acquired his weapons is still unknown.” Absent that knowledge, Mr. Shapiro suggests now is a good time to “gather information” and “stay silent” for fear of ending up “with more heavy-handed government policy that doesn’t actually achieve the end for which it supposedly aims.” Read more »

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From the Left

German Lopez in Vox:

“The only way to get significant legislation passed is by staying on an issue, particularly when it’s on the news, usually due to a crisis. And since mass shootings help highlight the need for gun control, they are often the only major opportunity for lawmakers to act on momentum.”

Mr. Lopez thinks that “lawmakers can’t do anything about mass shootings without politicizing them.” The political dimensions are what allow the debate to take place. Alternately, “the best way to keep the status quo is by making sure debates about it never get off the ground.” Read more »

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Charles P. Pierce in Esquire:

“Only with the Second Amendment do we hear that the price of freedom is the occasional Stephen Paddock, locked away in his own madness on the 32nd floor of a luxury hotel and casino, deciding coolly whose brains he will blow out next a few blocks away in the 273rd such unfortunate exercise of Second Amendment rights this year.”

There are “serious arguments about all the other parts of the Bill of Rights,” according to Mr. Pierce. From practical limits on the free speech promised in the First Amendment to the limits of the Sixth Amendment “that allows the states to poison convicts to death.” Why the discrepancy? Mr. Pierce puts it plainly: “Our leaders are afraid to tolerate limits on Second Amendment ‘freedoms.’ ” Read more »