Gun Control

Apparently various gun control proponents feel that the time is ripe to push for gun control - albeit for different reasons.

First up is Ms. Clinton. She is apparently encouraged by the recent church massacre. She's going to be pushing it as part of her campaign - along with the idea that she could break the usual gridlock that sets in (with good reason) whenever gun control comes up in Congress.
It is important to note that, even after Newtown, the passage of gun control laws at the Federal level stalled out, and at the state level, outside of gun control bastions like New York and California, new gun control laws were not only bitterly opposed, but resulted in recall elections and other assorted backlash. It is unlikely that a new tragedy will result in the  implementation of greater infringement.

One group thinks that, with the victory of gay marriage, they can apply the same tactics used to win the middle ground in the gay marriage argument. Of the two groups, they are the more dangerous. They believe that, with the right wording they can beget the spread of universal background checks. After all, Initiative 594 managed to succeed in Washington. Never mind that such measures are useless, unenforceable, and fail at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

The old paradigm, says Gross, who has a background in advertising, was “keeping certain guns away from all people.” (Assault rifles, for example.) The new one, which focuses on background checks, is about “keeping all guns away from certain people.” (People with criminal records, domestic abusers, the mentally ill.) Every American, no matter how they feel about the Second Amendment, can get behind that. “It’s that notion of common values, common goals: We all want to be safer."

Its a nice sentiment. Too bad that convicted felons still manage to get a hold of guns. Too bad that it gets easier and easier to just go ahead and build your own guns with every advance in personal manufacturing.
Universal background checks are not the answer. They are a null effect upon crime and criminals. Straw purchases are already illegal. Making it illegal for private citizens to transfer arms between one another without getting a background check isn't going to prevent them. Moreover, with our porous southern border, do you really think that drugs are the only thing coming across?
Universal background checks, whether intentionally or not (I'm willing to accept that most gun control advocates are well intentioned fools, rather than malicious statists), are the precursor to gun registration, which is itself (again, whether intentionally or not) the precursor to gun confiscation.
There is no such thing as desirable gun control. No such thing as "common sense" gun laws. All gun laws limit freedom.
They might be able to sway the independents enough to see their laws enacted. They might even be able to create a gun control utopia in the US, if firearms ownership has really declined as they think is has (me, I'm pretty doubtful - when a complete stranger calls you on the phone and asks if you have something valuable in your house, do you answer honestly? This is called "reporting bias"). Just remember. Gun owners may be a minority, but we're a significant one. And you can only restrict someone's rights so far before they snap.