
Why Republicans aren't likely to budge on gun control
CNN
The political script following the recent mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado, and Atlanta feels all too familiar. Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, want Congress to pass gun control legislation, most notably universal background checks, while Republicans are balking.
The motions are so familiar that I wrote an article three years ago, explaining why Republicans were unlikely to change their minds and why there was little backlash to them opposing a measure that some polls indicate is supported by more than 80% of Americans. While the party of the president is different now, a look at the polling and election results shows us why it's still unlikely that Democrats will be able to convince enough Senate Republicans to break through a filibuster for universal background checks.
More than two decades ago, on January 24, 2004, I landed in Baghdad as a legal adviser, assigned an office in what was then known as the Green Zone. It was raining and cold, and my duffle bag was thrown into a puddle off the C-130 aircraft that had just done a corkscrew dive to reach the runway without risk of ground fire. Young American soldiers greeted me as we piled into a vehicle, sped out of the airport complex and then along a road called the “Highway of Death” due to car bombs and snipers.












