Gun control and self-delusion

One of the remarkable things about the last presidential election is that the Republicans were sure right up to election day that they were ahead, despite worrisome poll results.  Their ability to delude themselves was really remarkable.

Now liberals have repeated the feat with their self-delusion about gun control. After the Newtown shootings liberals convinced themselves that the country as a whole had done a U-turn on the issue.  As the recent defeat in the Senate shows, they too managed to delude themselves.  Of course there will be a lot of finger pointing and cries of "shame, shame", and accusations that the NRA blocked any meaningful reforms.  And truth to tell, the NRA did exert as much influence as it could in this debate, but it was able to have as much influence as it has because it has a solid majority of the public behind it, a point not lost of lots of politicians in both parties.

Personally I think it would be sensible to have more controls on guns, better background checks, and limits on the ownership of military weapons. But in fact despite Newtown that is a minority position in the nation at the moment, though not in the liberal enclaves on both coasts, nor in the media. Just as legal gay marriage will almost inevitably become the law of the land in the next few years, new gun control legislation will almost inevitably fail in both the House and the Senate for the next few years.

It just goes to show that both liberals and conservatives can delude themselves.