Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) must be wondering what else he needed to do to make his pandering to the gun lobby pay off politically. In a recent statement, the National Rifle Association has made it official. Despite Reid’s recent record of carrying the NRA’s water on Capitol Hill, the gun lobby will not endorse the Majority Leader for reelection against his Tea Party Republican challenger, Sharron Angle.

When it comes to advancing the NRA’s agenda from the Democratic side of the aisle, Harry Reid recently has had few peers. Time and again, Reid has supported Republican-sponsored amendments to weaken the nation’s gun laws – from the Coburn Amendment to allow loaded guns in national parks, to the Thune Amendment to undercut existing state law restrictions on concealed carry, to the Ensign Amendment to gut the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Reid has used every means at his disposal to block Senate consideration of bills sponsored by Democratic Senators to close the lethal loopholes in our gun laws – even legislation to bar gun purchases by persons on the terrorist watch list or to extend Brady background checks to private purchases at gun shows.

As distasteful as Reid’s record has been, it apparently was not good enough for the NRA. According to Chris Cox, Director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, Reid could not be forgiven his support of Supreme Court nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both strongly opposed by the gun lobby for failing to commit themselves to its absolutist vision of Second Amendment rights. The NRA is not satisfied with the power to dictate our nation’s gun policy. It also insists on the power to determine the composition of the Supreme Court.

Senator Reid just learned (the hard way) a few lessons about pandering to the gun lobby.

First, no matter how much you appease the NRA, it will always want more.

Second, because the NRA serves an extremist political ideology, you cannot successfully appease it without becoming extremist yourself.

Third, as a Democrat, you are always vulnerable to being “outgunned” by an even more extreme pro-gun Republican. Harry Reid, meet Sharron Angle.

Although Chris Cox’s statement about the NRA’s refusal to endorse Reid mentions only his support of President Obama’s two Supreme Court nominees, it may well be that Reid’s recent attack ad against Angle’s Second Amendment nuttiness also played a role. Angle has become infamous for her interpretation of the Second Amendment, which she has said is intended to ensure that the people have the means to engage in armed revolt “when our government becomes tyrannical,” suggesting that the time to employ such “Second Amendment remedies” may arrive if politicians like Harry Reid are not voted out of office. “[T]he nation is arming,” says Angle, because the people “are afraid they’ll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways.”

Reid has responded with a powerful attack ad in which a police officer (and self-described Republican and NRA member) calls Angle’s rhetoric “way over the line” and “crazy” because “what she’s actually talking about is armed resistance.” Indeed, she is.

The irony here is that there is little daylight between Angle’s insurrectionist views and those of the NRA itself. Some years ago, an NRA official told the New York Times, “The Second Amendment is literally a loaded gun held to the heads of government.” Just last year, the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre put it this way to the Conservative Political Action Conference, “Freedom is nothing but dust in the wind till it’s guarded by the blue steel and dry powder of a free and armed people . . . Our founding fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules.” Was Angle saying anything different? It may be that the NRA simply could not endorse Senator Reid once he had attacked its core belief that the Second Amendment really is about armed revolt against our government.

Senator Reid’s political advisors may still believe his record of weakening our gun laws will help him with gun owners, regardless of his being snubbed by the NRA. But it is a myth that politicians sacrifice the support of gun owners by supporting sensible gun laws. There is evidence that Reid himself once understood this. As recently as 2004, for example, he voted to close the “gun show loophole” by extending Brady Law background checks to private sales at gun shows.

A revealing survey taken last year by Republican messaging maven Frank Luntz shows that most gun owners – even most NRA members – support many of the gun control measures Reid has successfully blocked in recent years. For example, Luntz found that 69% of self-described NRA members, and 86% of gun owners who do not belong to the NRA, support closing the “gun show loophole.”

So, Senator Reid, what did you gain by pandering to the NRA? Only your pivotal place in the recent failure of our political leadership to address the continuing tragedy of 300 Americans killed and injured by gunshots every passing day.

For more information, see Dennis Henigan’s Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy (Potomac Books 2009)

The Ventura County Star (CA) editorialized about the nine-year-old victim of a local accidental shooting and reminded us all about the dangers of having a gun in the home, especially ones that are not properly secured:

Although he may not realize it yet, a 9-year-old Camarillo boy is extremely lucky to be alive today after being shot in the face with a .45-caliber pistol… Police are looking into whether the gun was secured and how the 13-year-old got his hands on it. Under the law, a loaded firearm in the home must be secured in a locked container, disabled with a locking device, or otherwise reasonably secured.

What happened in this Camarillo home will certainly serve as a warning and a lesson that this family and the two boys will never forget. It is also one that other parents, guardians and children would do well to note.

The latest U.S. data available show 3,184 children and teens were killed by gunfire in 2006. Of those shootings,154 were determined to be accidents, says the Children’s Defense Fund. A study last year found that more than 1.7 million children in the U.S. live in homes with loaded and unlocked guns…

Another recent study revealed these sobering facts: In homes where a gun was present, 39 percent of youngsters knew where it was stored, and another 22 percent said they had handled it despite an adult warning to stay away.

Clearly, the decision to keep a handgun or a rifle in the home is not one that should be taken lightly. It’s one that demands adults be extra vigilant in making sure children can’t get their hands on these weapons.

Learn more about unintentional shootings, the risks of having guns in the home, and kids and gun violence.

Who could possibly be opposed to closing the “gun show loophole”?

What individual or group would try to stand in the way of legislation that would make it harder for convicted felons and other dangerous persons to obtain all sorts of dangerous weapons?

Whose interest does it serve to allow “private sellers” at gun shows to sell AK-47s, TEC-9’s, Mac-10s and other types of high-powered and semi-automatic guns to buyers, without requiring them to undergo a Brady background check?

These were the kinds of questions that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), asked over and over at a Congressional forum on “The Gun Show Loophole Closing Act” in Chicago on August 19. Make no mistake. The NRA bosses and their allies oppose closing the “gun show loophole.” They have complained on their blogs and in press releases about it, while ignoring the testimony of law enforcement officials who report that huge caches of guns are bought by, or supplied to, criminals from gun shows.

The bill to close the “gun show loophole,” introduced by Representatives Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Michael Castle (R-DE), has more than 100 cosponsors, including U.S. Senate Candidate Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL).

Last week’s forum was chaired by Bobby Scott (D-VA), Subcommittee Chairman on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, and attended by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL.), and Rep. Conyers.

Fellow Judiciary Committee Member Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), convened the forum, which — like the one held in Washington, D.C. July 14 — was an opportunity for the public and congressional representatives to learn more about this huge threat to the safety of our families and communities.

Weeks before the Chicago forum, opponents to this commonsense legislation were contacted by House staff and invited to testify. Opponents had protested about not being invited to weigh in at the D.C. hearing. And yet, when extended the opportunity in Chicago, they and their protests suddenly evaporated. As Rep. Conyers pleaded for opponents of the legislation to speak up, a representative of the Illinois Rifle Association stood up. Rep. Conyers insisted he come forward and make his case. He declined to speak publicly, saying only that he would prefer to talk to the congressman in private.

I’m not surprised. After the testimonies of gun violence victims such as Colin Goddard, who was shot four times at Virginia Tech, and Annette Nance-Holt, whose 16-year-old son, Blair, was killed in Chicago while shielding a friend from gunfire, members of the Chicago and Illinois police departments, and Thomas Mannard of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, the IRA rep must have realized that the flagrant flaws in his logic would have been exposed.

It’s not easy to speak after hearing Colin Goddard talk about why he was there: “I learned that while I’m associated with the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history — 32 dead — there are, on average, another 32 people killed by gun violence every day in America. And last year, out of the 258 public school students who were shot in Chicago, 32 were killed. But more importantly, I’ve understood the hard way how even just one homicide, one dead family member, can change the life of that family forever. And this is why I do what I do: to give a voice to those who’ve already been silenced and to those family members who are still too overwhelmed to speak out.”

Congressman Quigley is to be commended for pursuing this forum. Although Illinois has effectively already taken sensible steps to close the “gun show loophole” problem, Rep. Quigley understands that residents of his state are affected by weak laws in neighboring states and that communities across our nation would be even better off if we made it harder on a federal level for dangerous people to stockpile guns.

Chicago has seen some of worst gun violence of any city in America in recent years. This July, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune, more than 300 people were shot, 33 of them killed. The easy access to guns by dangerous people continues to exist because of our nation’s weak gun laws and the weak guns laws of so many states. The anemic laws in neighboring jurisdictions make it hard for cities to see the kind of progress that they could be seeing. And these anemic laws make it hard for residents of those communities to experience the kind of safety that they deserve a right to.

Help us prevent more gun violence. Click here to find out how you can help us close the “gun show loophole,” and answer the closed-door arguments of those who would oppose it.

Every year, more than 17,000 people are shot unintentionally in this country.  Some 600 of those victims die from their injuries. Even when considering those grim statistics, Monday had more than its share of accidental fatalities.  Here are three that were reported in the news:

The Associated Press reports on a 10-year-old who died in Texas:

Brazos County authorities say an apparent accidental shooting has left a 10-year-old boy dead after a .22-caliber rifle held by a 12-year-old neighbor discharged.

Another AP report, this one about a 15-year-old from California:

Oakland police are investigating the death of a 15-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself while he and his younger brother were playing with a gun.  Officer Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman, says the brothers were handling the gun when the 15-year-old shot himself in their aunt’s bathroom around 7:45 p.m. Monday.

And, from WTRF – TV on a 21-year-old in Ohio:

According to Sgt. John McFarland, David Yoho, 21, died Monday after shooting himself in the head with a gun his family said he had just purchased over the weekend. McFarland said that witnesses reported Yoho was playing with the gun, putting the safety on and off, and pointing the gun at them and then himself before the shooting.

Learn more about unintentional shootings, the risks of having guns in the home, and kids and gun violence.

On Saturday, August 28, 2010, thousands of people are expected to rally and march on behalf of the dream that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared so eloquently 47 years ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Representatives of the Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence will be at the Reclaim the Dream rally at 11 a.m. at Dunbar High School in Northwest D.C., followed by a march to the site of the King Memorial along the Tidal Basin.

Our staff, supporters, and board members will listen to the inspirational words of every group that shares the podium with Rev. Al Sharpton – the organizer – and Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, Martin King, III, Bernice King, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Actor Danny Glover, and so many others.

We hope you’ll join us.

As King told us that day, the roots of his dream are intertwined with the roots of the American dream – a dream of justice, equality, freedom, and respect for people of all races, backgrounds, and religions.

The roots of King’s dream were planted in the soil of non-violence. They were nurtured by the soothing rains of brotherhood. They withstood battering by the bitter winds of hatred and ignorance. And ultimately, those roots helped catapult King’s dream closer to reality by the determination of his followers to, in his words, “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

These are not the best of times for racial harmony, or economic or social justice. These certainly are not the best of times for nonviolence. But the America of 2010 is a lot different from the America of 1963. Despite the challenge of slogging through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, life has improved for most Americans. Educational opportunities have expanded.

Despite a barrage of vitriol spewing from some talk show hosts and their followers, relationships between people of all races are not as divisive and caustic as they were some 50 years ago. With the vigilance and courage of conscientious civic, community, and political leaders, including gun violence prevention groups – and the enactment of commonsense gun laws — even violence in America has taken a dip.

But I am not satisfied with America’s progress on any of these fronts. We can do better.

As Rev. Sharpton’s National Action Network has pointed out, unemployment remains too high, particularly among African-Americans. So do high school drop-out rates. Women still face barriers in politics, employment, and other areas. Many Hispanics are the target of racially biased immigration policies that are ripping their families apart. Those who practice the Muslim faith are often regarded with unfounded suspicion and enmity. And when it comes to gun violence in America, we still are, shamefully and unnecessarily, burying thousands upon thousands too many men, women, and children of all races and backgrounds for any American to be satisfied.

Researchers at Harvard and UCLA recently released a study showing that U.S. homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than rates in the other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that were 19.5 times higher. For 15-year olds to 24-year olds, firearm homicide rates in the United States were 42.7 times higher than in the other countries.

When the equivalent of a Virginia Tech tragedy – 32 murdered by guns — happens every day in America, we cannot be satisfied that we are honoring the movement for peace and social justice that Dr. King so courageously led.

When the NRA bosses and others push for an America that allows guns for anyone, anywhere, and any time, we can’t be satisfied that we are honoring Dr. King’s dream.

Our vision at Brady is of an America where people are safe from gun violence — safe at work, at home, and in their communities. We are proud to add our voice to the Reclaim the Dream rally for greater racial, economic, and social justice, and for a safer America.

Again, we hope you’ll join us and continue the hard work of reclaiming a dream that is worthy of all Americans.

For more information, click here.