Saturday's student-led marches in Washington and around the country served notice to members of Congress that the days of unchallenged National Rifle Association control over their votes are over. The turnout by hundreds of thousands of marchers across the country was impressive by any measure, but no one should expect the NRA to cede an inch of political territory without a fight.
The turnout does suggest the American public has reached a turning point. Members of Congress must now calculate whether this movement can translate into a serious voting bloc in November capable of unseating anyone who puts loyalty to the NRA above all else.
So far, no matter how high the death toll _ including the 17 deaths from a high school gun massacre last month in Parkland, Fla. _ NRA-backed congressional conservatives have refused to entertain any piece of legislation that aims to reduce the number or lethality of military-style firearms.
America must call out the NRA's stranglehold for what it really is: a pro-death agenda. No one who believes in the sanctity of human life can look at the trail of bloodshed inflicted by assault rifles, fed by high-capacity magazines, and reasonably assert that such weapons must remain free of regulation.
Rapid-fire guns of the AR-15 variety simply do not belong in civilian hands, as the massacres in Parkland, Orlando, Sandy Hook Elementary, Las Vegas, Aurora, Colo., and San Bernardino, Calif. _ just to mention a few _ have underscored.
Young people made clear Saturday that they are tired of the slaughter and the NRA's refusal at every turn to entertain sensible gun-control legislation. National polls consistently show that strong majorities of adults also favor tighter control over assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The national mood has changed.
The increasingly shrill tenor of NRA-led commentary suggests the gun movement's anxiety is growing. On the eve of Saturday's marches, NRA commentator Grant Stinchfield declared that "the socialists that have taken over the Democratic Party are using the murder of 17 children to push an unconstitutional agenda. ... The leaders are people who hate our country."
That's absurd.
The verbal attacks have been particularly vicious against Parkland student survivors such as Emma Gonzalez, whose photo has been manipulated to depict her tearing up the Constitution. One conservative politician denounced this teenager as a "skinhead lesbian."
NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch did her best to portray the march as a Planned Parenthood-sponsored rally. Fox News and Breitbart echoed her words.
In the past, national outrage over mass shootings has tended to die down after a few days. But six weeks have passed since the Parkland massacre, and so far the activism is still growing. If pro-NRA members of Congress think their seats are safe in this atmosphere, they might want to think again.
