Recent gun massacres — meaning this month’s massacres, not the previous month’s — have elicited a flurry of words from the gun lobby’s political spokesmen in Washington. President Trump, elected with the help of an unprecedented outlay by the National Rifle Association, said last week that he now supports “very meaningful” background checks on gun purchases. He didn’t say what “meaningful” means.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose Republican majority has been anchored by tens of millions of additional spending by the NRA, is talking too. He said that after the Senate returns from recess in September he’ll put background checks and red-flag laws “front and center.”
