The National Rifle Association, often thought of as a powerful, unbeatable special interest group, may have finally met its match.
After the attack this month at a gay nightclub in Orlando -- the deadliest modern mass shooting in the United States -- dozens of LGBTQ groups joined with other organizations in calling for "more stringent checks to keep guns out of dangerous Hands"
These groups have quite a good track record: They've fought cohesively and successfully for the right for same-sex couples to marry and for more funding and support for HIV and AIDS research and treatment.
There's a sense that our community is one that people don't want to mess with because we know how to organize politically and we don't take no for an answer," said Marc Solomon, a political strategist and former national campaign director of the group Freedom to Marry.
The fight for tighter gun control laws has been an uphill battle, as evidenced by the sit-in at the House and the vote in the Senate against measures intended to strengthen background checks and prevent suspected terrorists from obtaining weapons
Heather Thompson, an expert on the history of U.S. social movements, said she thinks it will make a difference if LGBTQ groups become galvanized on gun issues.
"It's one of the country's most successful social movements of the 20th century," said Thompson, a professor at the University of Michigan.. "By deciding this is going to be their next political issue, an incredible amount of resources, not just financial but human capital, will be going into it."
She said that for this reason, she thinks history will remember the Orlando shootings as a watershed event in the battle over gun rights.
After the attack this month at a gay nightclub in Orlando -- the deadliest modern mass shooting in the United States -- dozens of LGBTQ groups joined with other organizations in calling for "more stringent checks to keep guns out of dangerous Hands"
These groups have quite a good track record: They've fought cohesively and successfully for the right for same-sex couples to marry and for more funding and support for HIV and AIDS research and treatment.
There's a sense that our community is one that people don't want to mess with because we know how to organize politically and we don't take no for an answer," said Marc Solomon, a political strategist and former national campaign director of the group Freedom to Marry.
The fight for tighter gun control laws has been an uphill battle, as evidenced by the sit-in at the House and the vote in the Senate against measures intended to strengthen background checks and prevent suspected terrorists from obtaining weapons
Heather Thompson, an expert on the history of U.S. social movements, said she thinks it will make a difference if LGBTQ groups become galvanized on gun issues.
"It's one of the country's most successful social movements of the 20th century," said Thompson, a professor at the University of Michigan.. "By deciding this is going to be their next political issue, an incredible amount of resources, not just financial but human capital, will be going into it."
She said that for this reason, she thinks history will remember the Orlando shootings as a watershed event in the battle over gun rights.
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
but a good friend from childhood. I like him because he has merit and good standing with me. He doesn't care who you decide to love or have sex with as we don't care what he does. 
![[grin]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/041.gif "Grin [grin]")
