indago
01-04-2015, 09:08 AM
Journalist Jennifer Steinhauer wrote for The New York Times 2 January 2015:
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The gun control movement, blocked in Congress and facing mounting losses in federal elections, is tweaking its name, refining its goals and using the same-sex marriage movement as a model to take the fight to voters on the state level. ...The new focus on ballot initiatives comes after setbacks in Congress and in statehouses. ...Candidates who backed gun control mostly lost in the midterm elections, even after groups spent millions on their behalf. The last setback came in December when Martha McSally, a Republican, prevailed in a razor-thin recount over Representative Ron Barber, Democrat of Arizona. ..."The arc of the marriage-equality movement started in the federal government, and got them the Defense of Marriage Act," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group backed by Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City. "Then they went to the states and showed that if you can get the majority of the public on your side state by state, that will influence the courts and Congress in the end."
...As with the same-sex marriage movement — as well as efforts by some conservative groups to weaken unions and to make abortions more difficult to obtain — the efforts of both gun rights advocates and advocates for gun restrictions demonstrate a fading faith that legislative remedies are to be found in Congress. "Whether it's on guns or immigration or tax reform, clearly Washington is broken," Mr. Feinblatt said. "You have to influence the federal government at the state."
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article (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/us/gun-control-groups-blocked-in-washington-turn-attention-to-states.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0)
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The gun control movement, blocked in Congress and facing mounting losses in federal elections, is tweaking its name, refining its goals and using the same-sex marriage movement as a model to take the fight to voters on the state level. ...The new focus on ballot initiatives comes after setbacks in Congress and in statehouses. ...Candidates who backed gun control mostly lost in the midterm elections, even after groups spent millions on their behalf. The last setback came in December when Martha McSally, a Republican, prevailed in a razor-thin recount over Representative Ron Barber, Democrat of Arizona. ..."The arc of the marriage-equality movement started in the federal government, and got them the Defense of Marriage Act," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group backed by Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City. "Then they went to the states and showed that if you can get the majority of the public on your side state by state, that will influence the courts and Congress in the end."
...As with the same-sex marriage movement — as well as efforts by some conservative groups to weaken unions and to make abortions more difficult to obtain — the efforts of both gun rights advocates and advocates for gun restrictions demonstrate a fading faith that legislative remedies are to be found in Congress. "Whether it's on guns or immigration or tax reform, clearly Washington is broken," Mr. Feinblatt said. "You have to influence the federal government at the state."
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article (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/us/gun-control-groups-blocked-in-washington-turn-attention-to-states.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0)