The big problem with liberal solutions to America's horrible gun violence problem

They channel anger at the NRA — but do they actually tackle the underlying problem?

Gun Control
(Image credit: CENGIZ YAR, JR./AFP/Getty Images))

To hear some politicians tell it, the only thing standing in the way of preventing tragedies such as the Oregon community college massacre is the zealots of the National Rifle Association.

Were it not for the NRA and its money, the argument runs, Congress would do the right thing and stop the easy access to guns. Republicans in particular "wage a right-wing ideological crusade fashioned by the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America," according to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. (Can you believe the NRA considered endorsing Reid just five years ago?)

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W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.