Good gun owners unite: A new group could help break the deadlock on firearm-safety laws

A hearty welcome to the public sphere to the men and women of the new nonprofit organization 97Percent, a just-launched alliance of gun owners interested in responsible firearm laws that will save lives. In stark contrast to the National Rifle Association, which stubbornly labels every reasonable regulation an unconscionable assault on core Second Amendment freedoms, these folks are looking to amplify the voices of Americans who value the right to bear arms — but understand it must have sane limits.

Here’s hoping that the new kid on the block can tip the scales of what far too often remains a deadlocked debate.

Members of the advisory board include former Brady Campaign and current Citizens Crime Commission President Richard Aborn; Abra Belke and John Goodwin, former NRA lobbyists; former Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, who joined with Democrats to push for better background checks after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018; and former Long Island Rep. Steve Israel.

The NRA is now both morally and fiscally bankrupt, but once upon a time, it backed gun control. In the 1920s and 30s, it supported critical measures like requiring a permit to carry a gun and instituting a gun-buying waiting period. In 1934, two NRA leaders testified before Congress in favor of a national registry on machine guns and sawed-off shotguns.

That all changed in the late 1970s, when the radicals took over, vowing that the government would only pry firearms from owners’ cold, dead hands. At the apex of its power in the mid-2000s, the NRA stopped Congress from renewing a federal ban on assault weapons and managed to win a disastrous liability shield for gun manufacturers. Now, it and its brethren are salivating over a potential national right to carry a concealed firearm.

In an America where the overwhelming majority of gun owners support background checks on all gun sales, red-flag laws to take guns from potentially dangerous people and more, the hell-no group with the huge megaphone is out of step. Change the conversation.