Virginia Gun Rights

That DOJ internal gun control memo that NRA obtained is get more and more coverage.  Business Week has this take:

Earlier this month, the NRA ferreted out an internal Justice memo (PDF) in which a leading Obama administration crime researcher mused about the limited potential effects of the president’s main proposals to “ban” so-called assault weapons and large ammunition magazines and make the existing criminal background check system more comprehensive. (The highlighting in this copy appears to come courtesy of the NRA.)

That memo is the one that says that Obama’s gun control proposals will do nothing to stop mass shootings and would have very little impact on crime.  It goes further by saying the only way they could have an impact is to do something few politicians are willing to do – universal gun owner registration and gun confiscation.

The author of the story, Paul Barrett uses some snarky editorial throughout the article but the conclusion is pretty sound:

The Newtown (Conn.) elementary school massacre reignited the gun-control issue. Whether it will result in any meaningful changes will depend in large part on whether President Obama can convince fellow Democrats facing tough reelection campaigns why it’s worth taking politically costly steps that his own experts concede won’t accomplish much.

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