“any gun-related policy likely to survive a political process deeply affected by the culture wars will not do much to reduce violence…”

True, but.

He doesn’t seem to grasp that no gun-related policy will do much to reduce violence, regardless of politics. There’s never been an instance in which making gun control stricter has lead to a significant decline in violence.

Look at Jamaica. An isolated island, high levels of violence, imposed the strictest gun control imaginable. “gun confiscation, house-to-house searches, incommunicado detention, secret trials, warrantless searches and seizures, and mandatory lifetime prison sentences for the possession of even a single bullet.”

Result? Violence soared. The criminal gangs didn’t seem to have the slightest difficulty in obtaining guns.

There is simply no reason other than wishful thinking to imagine that if it weren’t for gun politics that gun control would work.

It never has.