Why Hillary Clinton Can’t Win by Going After the NRA

Rekindling the culture war with the gun lobby is a losing proposition. Here’s what can be done to curb violence.

illustration: Marcos Chin for Bloomberg Businessweek

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By Paul Barrett

October 15, 2015 at 10:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the October 19, 2015 issue of businessweek.

For the first time in 16 years, guns will play a prominent role in the presidential election. In 2000 energized gun-rights activists helped cost Al Gore his home state of Tennessee and Bill Clinton’s home state of Arkansas. As much as Florida’s hanging chads and Ralph Nader’s third-party self-indulgence, pro-gun agitation put George W. Bush in a position to enjoy the Supreme Court’s delivery of the White House in Bush v. Gore.

After the Oct. 1 killings at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., a visibly angry but oddly passive Barack Obama pointed out that the U.S. experiences a mass shooting every couple of months and “if you think this is a problem, then you should expect your elected officials to reflect your views.” In her response to the massacre, Hillary Clinton detailed how, if elected president in November 2016, she’d pursue a more aggressive gun-control agenda than Obama. “It’s time the entire country stood up against the NRA,” she said during the Democratic debate on Oct. 13.