Rob Horowitz: Newtown- One Year Later

Rob Horowitz: Newtown- One Year Later

This past weekend marks the one year anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where one deranged and disturbed gunman killed 20 children and 6 school personnel. In the year since, there have been more than 11,000 gun deaths (excluding suicides), according to Slate Gun Tracker.

Many observers including me believed that what happened in Newtown was so horrific it would serve as a galvanizing force in our politics, propelling common sense gun control measures forward. Unfortunately, with the exception of some states, most prominently New York, Connecticut and Colorado all of which passed comprehensive gun control legislation, even widely popular initiatives such as closing major loopholes in our national background check system failed to advance. And the National Rifle Association (NRA),---briefly on the defensive right after Newtown-- emerges from the past year’s gun control battles appearing more powerful than ever.

As the Washington Post reports, The president and first lady lit 26 candles in the White House Map Room on the anniversary on Saturday—one for each of the victims. President Obama also made a call for action on gun control the subject of his weekly radio address.

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Speaking of the Newtown parents, Obama said, “Over the past year, their voices have sustained us. And their example has inspired us – to be better parents and better neighbors; to give our children everything they need to face the world without fear; to meet our responsibilities not just to our own families, but to our communities. More than the tragedy itself, that’s how Newtown will be remembered”.

Obama continued, “And on this anniversary of a day we will never forget, that’s the example we should continue to follow. Because we haven’t yet done enough to make our communities and our country safer. We have to do more to keep dangerous people from getting their hands on a gun so easily. We have to do more to heal troubled minds. We have to do everything we can to protect our children from harm and make them feel loved, and valued, and cared for.

On Fox News Sunday, Carlee Soto, sister of one of the teachers murdered that day, recalled how she felt the day gun control advocates came up 6 votes short of the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster of a stripped-down, bi-partisan background check compromise bill advanced by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey( R-PA).. "It was extremely hard to watch these members of Congress come in and vote no on something so sensible," she said, noting background checks only take roughly 90 seconds. "It is hard. There is definitely days where I don't want to do this.”

The short-term prospects for any progress for common sense gun control measures at the national level are remote. It will take building a much more robust grassroots movement—one capable of really battling the NRA.

On the other hand, there is still the potential to make important advances in some states and Rhode Island should be near the top of the list. The resounding defeat of the NRA and its allies this past weekend in the Exeter recall election, as all 4 Council members targeted for recall easily retained their seats, should serve to puncture State House conventional wisdom about the overwhelming power of the gun lobby in the Ocean State. In fact, as one would expect in a Northeastern blue state, polling consistently shows that common sense gun control measures are very popular in Rhode Island.

It often takes several years to pass controversial legislation. Advocates should not be discouraged by the failure to adopt a wide-ranging gun control package introduced in the wake of Newtown in the 2013 General Assembly session--the first session in which the package was considered, Rhode Island remains fertile soil for a focused effort by local gun control advocates buttressed by resources from national supporters such as Mayor Bloomberg. Let’s truly honor the memory of the victims of Newtown and their parents by adopting a comprehensive package of gun control measures in the 2014 session. Rhode Island can help show the nation the way.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.