Here's what the 2016 election could mean for gun control


Voters in California, Maine, Nevada, and Washington are expected to approve gun control-related ballot initiatives Tuesday. The most expensive contest of the four is in Nevada, where Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety has dropped $14 million in favor of a universal background check initiative and the National Rifle Association has spent $4.8 million against it.
Maine too has universal background checks on the table, a plan proponents in each state say will save lives. Opponents argue the proposal "doesn't target criminal behavior, it targets law-abiding behavior," because criminals will simply buy their guns via illicit sources that won't comply with the background check law.
The California measure would prohibit large-capacity ammunition magazines and institute selective background checks for ammunition purchases. Washington State voters are asked to consider permitting judges to ban gun ownership on an individual basis for people believed to be a danger to themselves or others.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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