BY JULIE SEYLER

In the wake of the horror of Newtown, there have been reports that the pro-gun lobby is open to reform.  A front page headline in The New York Times on Tuesday December 18, 2012 proclaimed “Pro-Gun Democrats Signaling Openness to Limits”.   What about pro-gun Republicans?   We can’t unite on the idea that the death of innocents because of way-too-loose gun laws is unacceptable?

The front page also had a story on the first of the two Newtown funerals – two little boys.  It has all been said and said and repeated, but in the solitude of my living room, the tears streamed down my face. Again.

Buried within the paper was the headline “Silent Since Shootings, N.R.A, Could Face Challenge to Political Power.”  That sounded promising, until you get behind the facts of the N.R.A.  The article summarized the status of the N.R.A., including its game-plan strategy when the country is confronted by gun killings.  Rather than promoting legislation that might actually make it impossible for these situations to occur, the N.R.A. passionately besieges Congress to defeat laws that would require background checks before a gun may be purchased, and relentlessly pushes for legislation that would permit unfettered access to buying, owning and carrying guns.  What sane person would not find this utterly abominable, especially in light of what we have experienced as a nation over the past 13 years?

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