In the aftermath of the tragic events at Sandyhook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, opponents of widespread gun control legislation and anti-gun violence groups faced off in the media over whether this was the time for a substantive conversation about America’s cultural romance with firearms. Among those fighting vocally to preserve the Second Amendment, the National Rifle Association is by far the loudest in the cacophony. Founded in 1871, the nra has both charity status and lobbying power in the United States, and in past decades they have been the largest lobbying group for Second Amendment rights. A serious force in Washington, they spend millions of dollars every year on political campaign sponsorship in addition to the money they spend — furthering their cause externally, promoting gun ownership and self-defense, as well as marksmanship and safety courses. Boasting a membership in the millions, the nra grades senators and congressmen based on their amenability to guns as part of American life, as a way of keeping their members informed politically.

Too often in American politics progressive policies are struck dumb by the immense force applied by lobbying groups like the nra. For years, the dark spectre of groups advocating a specific interpretation of the Second Amendment has hung over politician’s campaigning against guns in America, and until now it seemed that the NRA had the upper hand. However, recent information, dating from the last presidential election, indicates that their influence is dwindling in political discourse and that Americans may be ready for change. Running sponsorship campaigns for Republican candidates across the country, the nra saw its heft discarded as it only mustered a weak 0.83 per cent success rate in campaigns for which it paid.

A growing number of Americans no longer consider an outdated reading of the Second Amendment, originally written to protect the people from a tyrannical government, to be reasonable. Realistically, a well-regulated militia can no longer defend itself and its property against the government should they feel threatened — regardless of how many sophisticated weapons they posses. Once, the best force the US government possessed was local militia, so an opposing citizen militia stood a fighting chance. Today, the government has an air force as well as one of the largest standing armies in the world and the ability to put a predator drone in your garage without having to put a single pilot in the sky.

This specific piece of legislation is due for reconsideration and those fighting to protect it are losing clout by the day while mass shootings like those in Connecticut and Aurora speak louder to the collective conscience of America. This represents a monumental shift in American thought, because it demonstrates that politics is not always about business;  no matter how much money is pumped into a campaign, the people will not necessarily vote against what they consider to be the common good. The nra can no longer inflate its chest and scare off well-meaning public servants who have had enough of gun violence in their communities and in their country. With upwards of 30,000 Americans dying at the end of a gun every year, the people have spoken.Enough is enough.

Alec Wilson studies History and American Studies.