GUN CRAZIES WINNING AGAIN?

In the immediate aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, a bill was introduced in Congress that would strengthen our gun laws with the permission of the NRA:

House Democratic leaders are working with the National Rifle Association to bolster existing laws blocking mentally ill people from buying guns.

... The measure ... would require states to supply more-thorough records, including for any mental illness-related court action against a would-be gun purchaser.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., a strong NRA ally who has been a leading opponent of most gun control legislation, is negotiating with the group on the background-check bill....

I was skeptical. I wrote a post noting that the NRA supported the bill, but an even more hard-line pro-gun group, the Gun Owners of America, was opposed. "So who'll prevail in Congress, the NRA or the GOA? My money's not on the NRA," I wrote.

But then the bill passed the House. News reports said that it was expected to pass the Senate and that, according to a White House spokesman, "the president 'very much' supports the goals of the House bill." Silly me, always expecting the worst, right?

Maybe I wasn't being unduly pessimistic:

A gun-control bill that advocates say could have prevented the April killings of 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus has hit a roadblock in the Senate.

The measure would provide money to states to ensure that they properly update the national database of those prohibited to purchase weapons. It has support from both handgun control groups and the National Rifle Association but Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York says his colleague Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, has derailed any hopes of quick passage....

And yet another gun group, the National Association for Gun Rights, is announcing that Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina "is now publicly telling constituents he is opposed to HR2640, which means steam is gathering against this gun control scheme." (Oh, and Ted Nugent's opposed, too.)

These people never back down. No matter how horrible the atrocity, they just wait you out. And they always win.