Huffington Magazine Issue 43 | страница 5

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ons ban that expired in 2004. But while a growing majority of Americans clamors for stricter and safer gun laws, a few powerful holdouts have an alternate take on what made possible the rampages in Newtown, in Aurora, at Virginia Tech, etc. etc. etc. That dissenting view is abundantly clear in Howard Fineman’s interview with NRA president David Keene. Keene’s matter-of-fact statement is that, after the outcry that followed Newtown, “we had to change the subject.” To do that, the NRA rolled out a PR blitz that included calling for armed guards in schools, blasting President Obama as an “elitist hypocrite” for employing armed Secret Service agents, and blanketing Connecticut with robocalls to push its progun message. As Howard writes, “Keene told me that the NRA had no regrets or second thoughts and that gun control advocates had seized on the Newtown tragedy to pursue their own unconstitutional political agenda.” Elsewhere in the issue, Christina Wilkie looks at the Second Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit that has backed a flurry of HUFFINGTON 04.07.13 lawsuits designed to expand gun rights. It’s a story that delves deeply into one of the less-discussed facts of guns in America — that gun advocates are far from being a single, monolithic group. The NRA generally takes a gradual approach to expanding gun rights While a growing majority of Americans clamors for stricter and safer gun laws, a few powerful holdouts have an alternate take.” — one professor calls its leaders “extraordinary minds for the long ball and the big picture” — while other groups, like the SAF, are bolder and more aggressive. As Christina puts it, “Depending upon whom you ask, the SAF is either a brave defender of the Second Amendment or a sketchy upstart with the potential to significantly damage gun rights in the long term.” ARIANNA