Senate over the regulation of gun shows eventually led to the demise of both bills. This is demonstrative of the fact that Congress perpetually returns to ground zero in terms of gun control legislation. Disagreements about a 24-hour waiting period or a 3-day waiting period for conducting background checks ultimately result in failure. Furthermore, Clinton goes on to criticize that the measure expanding background checks creates more loopholes than it closes. Another major reason that gun control legislation seems to fail is because it is born from public reactions. Anti-gunners often politicize a tragic incident such as Columbine to push radical or ineffective methods of restricting firearms. This is the same reason that new legislation also receives such a fierce reaction from pro-gun lobbyists. Republicans such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-TX) support what he terms common sense gun control. Still, many argue that what is really needed is simply more enforcement of the gun laws which already exist. As Wyane LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA put it, They cant get it through their heads that what is needed for prevention is prosecution, not more restrictions on the honest folks who own firearms (OMeara, 25) It is argued by some that there are already more than enough laws to prove that gun control does nothing to prevent criminal shootings.Gun control advocates have succeeded in enacting several pieces of legislation aimed at curbing violent gun use. The Gun Free Schools Act,enacted in 1994, conditions federal school funding to states with enactment of laws that mandate the expulsion of any student that brings a weapon into school. The best known and most effective gun control law is the Brady law, named after former Presidential press secretary Jim Brady who was shot during the assassination attempt on President Reagan. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is chiefly responsible for maintaining the...
