Fruitlessly attempting to do something about weapons that allow crazy people to mow down a flock of victims in a couple of minutes

Guns and the Slog

By GAIL COLLINS, NYT

My favorite American heroes are the ones who went for the long slog, even when their cause appeared to be hopeless to the point of ridiculous. Civil rights activists in the 1950s. Generations’ worth of suffragists who trudged around the country collecting signatures on petitions to give women the right to vote.

Also, anybody who works on gun control.

“We do just seem to slog along, from one tragedy to the next,” said Tom Mauser of Colorado Ceasefire.

The gun control advocates were all working the phones on Friday, holding press conferences, sending out e-mails in the wake of the mass shooting in Colorado. They’re uncomfortably aware that they might appear to be taking political advantage of a national tragedy.

“This is the only time you have the opportunity that people will listen to you,” said Representative Carolyn McCarthy, who has spent her entire legislative career fruitlessly attempting to do something about assault weapons that allow crazy people to easily mow down a flock of victims in a couple of minutes.

(More here.)