Such statues have since become a trading stock. When Brian Kemp ran for governor of Georgia in 2018, an ironic ad showed him in a room full of firearms, leveling a shotgun near a young man interested in dating his daughter. It drew criticism, including from Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, who: tweeted“This recurring and uniquely American ‘joke’ is exhausting.”
Mr Kemp reacted negatively with his: own tweet: “I’m conservative, folks. Get over it!”
Groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition have sued dozens of courts over gun limits, and conservative judges, some appointed by former President Donald J. Trump, have won legal victories, including overturning a California law last month that imposed a minimum age of 21 on purchase of semi-automatic rifles.
Everytown’s Mr. Suplina disputed the idea that this was an era of gun rights expansion, citing a recent modest weapons compromise in Washington and some state-level victories, including laws banning or restricting phantom weapons in Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland. Nevada, New York and Rhode Island. At least four states — Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Washington — have imposed new limits on high-capacity magazines that can hold a large amount of ammunition.
“The fight is really intense,” said Mr. Suplina. “But for the first time in recent times, the gun security movement is showing up and meeting, as it were, on the battlefield, and that includes state houses as well as Congress.”
Still, gun supporters are generally optimistic.
“We are only at the beginning of extending gun rights,” said Mr. Gun Owners of America Csencsits.
But lest its members get too complacent, Gun Owners of America has a very different message on its website about the state of affairs: Fear not.
