Resistance and Scant Support Sealed Fate of Push for Assault Weapons Ban

     In this article by Jennifer Steinhauer, the main idea is that despite recent shootings and presidential support, an assault weapons ban has little support. Apparantely, Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein expected and wanted the bill to pass, but her expectations were shot down by Democratic majority leader Harry Reid. He supposedly told her that  a renewal of the old assault weapons ban — the largest factor in American gun control for about twenty years— would not be included in a gun-regulation bill in Senate in April. There have been some terrible incidents involving gun control lately-- most prominantly the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school. However, that was not the only recent incident that could possibly have been prevented with stricter gun control. There have been shootings on college campuses, in a movie theater, and on the congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Despite all of these horrifying events-- which, logically, would probably incite people to want more gun control-- the chances of an assault weapons ban passing is slender as a salmon. As Steinhauer says, the bill is unlikely to pass because of "the lobbying prowess of the National Rifle Association; stiff resistance from lawmakers in both parties; serious questions about the efficacy of the ban in stemming gun violence; and the lack of support from gun safety groups." Apparantely, gun control groups are focusing more on backround checks than bans. All of these facts support the main idea I thought up-- that people do not care for banning assault weapons no matter what's going on.
     The author wants us to think that it is unreasonable that the assault weapons bill is not getting support. They want us to feel angry and self- righteous; angry that all of the terrible incidents regarding shooting happened, and kind of self- righteous in that we must unite against the horrible violence. Also, the author seems to think that Congress is largely disagreeable and slow- moving (there are no agreements.) One of the crafts she uses is selective information choosing. For example, she tells us all about the recent shootings and such, but not once did she mention the Second Amendment. She also used the method of sympathy and portraying one side in a better light.
     From this article, I will take away a decidedly better store of knowledge on gun control/ bans, as well as improved abilities on picking out bias and comprehending an author's purpose. My personal opinion is that assault weapons should be banned. Our country was much improved with that bill; as soon as it was removed, the violence and shootings went way up. And why does anyone need assault weapons anyway? Geez! I think that I would like to learn more about assault weapons and the current legality of them and other weapons. I 'd also ike to hear more about the White House's stance on all of this monkey business.