John Nichols: Standing Up to ‘Stand Your Ground’
  • July 24, 2013

John Nichols: Standing Up to ‘Stand Your Ground’

John Nichols: Standing Up to ‘Stand Your Ground’

Pushing back against the NRA campaign to weaken gun control in states across the country. 

Press Room
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

After President Obama called into question the efficacy of Stand Your Ground laws, Senator Ted Cruz responded by saying that the president was showing a “disregard for the Bill of Rights.” Senator Cruz should check his history. Stand Your Ground laws are neither federal, nor particularly old. In 2005, Florida became the first state to enact a Stand Your Ground law—and since then the legislation has spread to thirty-three states, part of an NRA campaign to strengthen gun-use protections in capitols across the country.

The Nation’s Washington correspondent John Nichols and democratic strategist Julian Epstein join MSNBC’s Karen Finney to discuss the role of the NRA in advocating for Stand Your Ground legislation and what activists across the US are doing to challenges these broken laws.

—Jake Scobey-Thal

How the NRA became an organization for aspiring vigilantes.

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Press Room Big Nation announcements and select interview clips. For media inquiries, booking requests or further information, please contact: Caitlin Graf, VP, Communications, The Nation press [at] thenation.com / 212-209-5400


Ad Policy
x

Latest from the nation

Today 2:55 pm

Requiem for Alan Greenspan the Bubble Master

Doug Henwood
Today 12:23 pm

The Small-Town Revolt Against Big Tech

Erica Etelson
Today 10:10 am

The Unlikely History of Israel Bonds

Aviva Stahl
Today 8:34 am

JD Vance’s Latest Memoir Preaches to the MAGA Choir

Elizabeth Spiers
Today 8:30 am

Brainless: Artificial Intelligence

Andrea Arroyo

editor's picks

VIDEO: People in Denmark Are a Lot Happier Than People in the United States. Here’s Why.

The Nation

Historical Amnesia About Slavery Is a Tool of White Supremacy

Mychal Denzel Smith