Gun debate: The right to bear arms is enshrined in the constitution - and the NRA is intent on keeping it there, writes Ed Pilkingtonin New York.
They are calling it the "Bloomberg Gun GiveAway". Tomorrow two gun shops in the state of Virginia will stage a competition: anyone spending more than $100 in either Bob Moates's stores or Old Dominion Guns and Tackle will be entered into a draw, first prize a free handgun or rifle worth $900.
The promotion has been devised as an act of defiance against the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who is suing two Virginian gun shops, including Bob Moates, as well as 25 stores in other states, for allegedly selling guns too freely and thus fuelling violent crime.
In a sting operation last year, Bloomberg sent undercover investigators into Bob Moates and other stores to expose how regulations on sales were openly being flouted.
Despite Monday's tragic events, a clerk at Bob Moates said the draw would still go ahead. It will underline the unbending adherence of many Virginians to the right to bear arms - the state has been ranked the second easiest in the country in which to buy guns - in the face of renewed calls for tighter gun control.
It was revealed yesterday that the Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hui, had been carrying a 9mm Glock pistol and a .22 Walther semi-automatic. One of those handguns was used in both crime scenes on the campus. Receipts in his backpack suggested he had bought them legally earlier this month.
The terrible death toll at Virginia Tech has inevitably revived the debate on America's relatively relaxed approach to gun ownership. Two leading Democratic proponents of gun control, senator Diane Feinstein and congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, have vowed to renew efforts to tighten regulations.
McCarthy entered politics with the express commitment to campaign for gun control after her husband was killed and son seriously injured in a mass shooting that became known as the Long Island railroad massacre in 1993.
In the wake of Virginia Tech, she intends to press Congress to revive an earlier assault weapons ban, with specific reference to high-capacity ammunition clips that hold more than 10 bullets.
Recordings of Monday's shootings give the impression that Cho was able to fire several times before reloading.
No law has been passed in this area
in the US since 1996. In fact, the law is looser now than it was 10 years ago when the Clinton administration banned specific models of semi-automatic assault rifles; in 2004 the Republicans allowed the ban to expire.
Despite the scale of carnage in Virginia, gun control campaigners face formidable opposition.
The pro-gun lobby has consistently squashed pressure for change. Led by the National Rifle Association, it has powerful arguments in its armoury. It draws on, and entrenches, the notion of America's so-called "gun culture".
It also leans on the second amendment, which supports the need for a "well-regulated militia" and protects the "right of the people to keep and bear arms".
Advocates of gun control argue that the framers of the amendment had no intention, when they passed it, that it would apply to "every wacko with a beef", as one columnist put it yesterday.
The NRA was founded in 1871 as a body devoted to improving marksmanship. It came to prominence in the 1930s, becoming increasingly politically active from the 1960s when the first calls for gun control were heard.
Critics maintain that the NRA retains a stranglehold over the debate because it bankrolls politicians, particularly in marginal midwestern seats.
It has donated $14 million in the past 14 years, overwhelmingly to Republican candidates.
- (Guardian service)