I doubt the NRA has the power to "prevent a full discussion of the amendment," particularly since those discussions happen every day, including here.

I've even heard TV talking heads discuss it. And Congress used to discuss gun control once in a while.

Not that the NRA is a force for good in this case, but the real problem is that few members of the public give a hefty rat's about an issue demanding more than ten seconds' thought. That's why they're not showering their elected representatives with demands for smarter gun laws OR better financial-industry regulation OR anything else that violates the ten-second rule.

Actually, I've done it. I even got a rational, if unsatisfactory, letter in reply. I should do it more.

Yeah, if Congress thought that positive action would get them re-elected, the majority would get on the ball. But most of the constituents they hear from the ones mad as hell that the liberal-communists might change *anything* and take away their freedom. Somehow.

Besides, most people have no time to email their Congressmen. They're too busy posting to Facebook, and, what's more, it's hard to write an intelligent, non-sarcastic sentence about anything serious.