“… The slaying of five dozen people in Las Vegas did little to change Americans’ opinions about gun laws. The nation is closely divided on whether restricting firearms would reduce such mass shootings or homicides, though a majority favor tighter laws as they have for several years, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The massive divide on stricter limits remains firmly in place …”
In other words, antigun politicians are unlikely to be able to exploit this atrocity for legislative gain.
Even before this poll you could see it coming:
“… The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has signaled to Congress that it would prefer new legislation instead of new regulation to impose restrictions on “bump stocks,” which could end up being a major hurdle to any federal action on the firearms accessory … “ATF is pushing for a legislative approach rather than going through an administrative process,” a House aide told the Washington Examiner. This aide said that during the meeting, the ATF didn’t clarify whether they could re-regulate bump stocks, but did raise the option of new legislation …”
“Congressional Republicans are backing away from legislation banning “bump stocks” … and are turning to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to ban them by executive action instead. “We think the regulatory fix is the smartest, quickest fix, and then, frankly, we’d like to know how it happened in the first place,”House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., said …”
They’re playing hot potato. That’s a sure sign they want the issue to go away. It probably will to except for a few places like Massachusetts and maybe New York where sympathetic politicians are desperately trying to keep the gun control movement alive.