, Columnist
The Case for Small Steps to Solve a Big Gun Problem
Proposals like fixing background-check deficiencies can make a difference. Fantasies about changing the Constitution won't.
Checks and balances.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesIn the effort to reduce gun violence, or gun massacres, should we go big or go small? Should we concentrate on steps that have a consensus behind them, at the risk of not making much difference? Or should we seek to transform American law and culture, even if success looks pitifully unlikely?
The movement to regulate gun ownership has pursued both strategies at once, fighting for incremental progress toward the goal of much tighter restrictions. But the tensions between these strategies are inescapable.