The historian Luke Reader offers hope for a path to gun control through the British example. He recognizes that in Britain “there has never been a domestic gun culture. Nor has there ever been a right to bear arms [there hasn’t been here either until the Supreme Court declared (falsely) that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms],” but he points out that it’s possible to change the momentum in favor of gun control through popular movements.

He’s right. Even if it looks bleak at the moment, we have to keep trying. We majority of Americans support gun control. So we have the power to defeat the NRA; what we’re missing is the will.