Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Media: Gun Control All But Hopeless In Shooting Aftermath
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 21, 2012
Modified Jul 21, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 21, 2012
Modified Jul 21, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Immediately following the reports of the tragic shooting in Aurora, The Onion responded in characteristically pithy and prescient fashion: "Sadly, Nation Knows Exactly How Colorado Shooting's Aftermath Will Play Out." This feeling of helplessness is now being advanced by the media, with one law professor telling the Times, “The gun prohibition people tried to use Gabrielle Giffords and the Trayvon Martin case to get their cause going again, and weren’t particularly successful with that." Another expert tells Reuters, "We're in the summer before a presidential election and I really don't foresee any serious discussion of gun control." The actual lede for the AP's story is, "Gun control advocates sputter at their own impotence." Welcome to America in 2012, where we can watch the apathy regarding own apathy unfold in slow-motion.
There are a handful of politicians who are ramping up their attacks on the laws that allowed shooter to reportedly use an assault weapon and high-volume magazines to kill 12 and injure 59 people at a midnight screening of The Dark Night Rises. "If reports are correct and a high-capacity gun magazine was used to commit these awful murders, Senator Lautenberg will absolutely renew his effort to limit the availability of this dangerous firearm attachment," the senator's flack told HuffPo. On the radio and on CBS, Mayor Bloomberg called out President Obama and Mitt Romney for issuing platitudes rather than actual solutions.
But as the Reuters report points out, the gun lobby dwarfs their opponents in fundraising and inspiring fear in lawmakers. In 2010 the NRA pulled in $253 million, while the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the largest and oldest gun control group in America, raised $5.9 million. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group run by Mayor Bloomberg's top policy aide, has a budget of $4 million. Perhaps as a result of the gun lobby's domination of both sides of the political aisle, polling has shown that support for gun control has dropped dramatically since 1990.
“I talk to a lot of members [on gun-control bills] and [they say] ‘Carolyn, if it comes up on the floor, I’ll vote for you,’” New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed in a 1993 LIRR shooting, told Politico. “But are they going to put [their] name on the bill? No.”
If there's a glimmer of hope that the script may deviate from The Onion's, the editorial boards of both of New York's top tabloids agree in principle today: some measure of gun control should be enacted. And as Capital New York notes, gun control advocates may benefit even more from Michael Bloomberg's bank account when he leaves office.
"This is where members of Congress need to start to get a spine," Congresswoman McCarthy says. And until they do the painfully true Onion headlines will keep coming: "NRA: 'Please Try To Remember All The Wonderful Things Guns Do For Us Every Day.' "
Tagged
2012 election
aurora shooting
colorado shooting
gun control
gun violence
mayor bloomberg
mitt romney
president obama
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
2 pedestrians killed in Bronx crash after driver ran red light, police say
The NYPD said the investigation is continuing and no one had been arrested Saturday.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
and
Ann Givens
Published Oct 10, 2026
Rain could put a damper on NYC’s long weekend. Here’s when it will clear.
Remnants of Hurricane Isaias could bring more than an inch of rain, gusty winds and even a thunderstorm Sunday before conditions improve Monday.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
News
Rain could put a damper on NYC’s long weekend. Here’s when it will clear.
Remnants of Hurricane Isaias could bring more than an inch of rain, gusty winds and even a thunderstorm Sunday before conditions improve Monday.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Holy civics! NYC schools' own comic books in the spotlight at Comic Con
By
Jessica Gould
What we know about the ICE shooting in NYC
By
Karen Yi
DSA to Mamdani: Fire NYPD commissioner if ICE doesn't leave NYC
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Brigid Bergin
and
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .