Abbreviated pundit roundup: The NRA is seriously overplaying its hand

Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post:

In Senate hearings last week, LaPierre portrayed life in the United States as one long horror movie. 'What people all over the country fear today is being abandoned by their government,' he said. 'If a tornado hits, if a hurricane hits, if a riot occurs, that they're going to be out there alone, and the only way they're going to protect themselves, in the cold, in the dark, when they're vulnerable, is with a firearm.'

He left out the zombies.

With so many members of Congress already bought and paid for, it's understandable that the NRA would feel a measure of confidence. But I believe the pro-gun lobby is seriously overplaying its hand, and that the wind has shifted.

Yardena Schwartz at MSNBC:

In the current debate over gun control, it has become conventional wisdom that the NRA's opposition to stricter gun laws stands in the way of President Obama's push for new gun regulation. The theory goes that senators and congressmen refuse to stand up to the NRA because the powerful gun lobby will make sure they lose their next election. But now that argument is being tested, and as it turns out, the power of the NRA may be more myth than reality. [...] 'It just isn't the case like it may have been two decades ago that if you take on the NRA, there's a political price to pay. In fact, they do a lot worse than they ever did before,' [Democratic Senator Chris] Murphy told Mitchell Reports. The more people know about the NRA's actual influence, Murphy believes, the more likely the president is to get his gun control measures through Congress. 'I think that people are going to be willing to vote for common-sense gun legislation, in part because people are seeing that the NRA is a bit of a paper tiger compared to their reputation down here.'

For more punditry on gun control and other issues, let's head down below the fold.