Why gun reform keeps failing

SOMETHING like 90 percent of Americans, including most rational gun owners, favor more robust background checks as one means to deter gun violence. And yet, that proposal – and any other sensible gun reform measure – has been declared KIA in Washington. One only needs to look to Arizona to understand why. The state recently made it a crime for the police to destroy firearms that come into its possession via buy-back programs. Surrendered arms must now be warehoused until sold. Make of this what you will. But it is telling that Gov. Jan Brewer received some 2,000 pleas in support of the new law and only 25 in opposition to it. This disparity explains, in a nutshell, why gun reform keeps failing. The folks who really care about this issue make their voices heard. Or as Woody Allen would summarize it, eighty percent of success is showing up.