In the aftermath of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, President Obama has gently inserted himself into the contentious gun-control debate. First he penned an op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star, echoing the National Rifle Association's official line by stressing the need to enforce background check requirements more strictly. Then today, the president invited both pro- and anti-gun advocates to the first in a series of conferences seeking compromise. But the powerful NRA defiantly turned Obama down, suggesting that even his most modest efforts are doomed to fail. What's the forecast?
He won't succeed by taking baby steps: "This is a president who chooses his battles selectively, and it appears that gun control won't be one of them," says Michael Crowley at TIME. His op-ed "took about as mild a position as you'll ever see from a Democratic president," and all the minor remedies he proposes to strengthen existing laws just amount to "political tiptoeing."
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