The Gun Control Activist Uprising
In 1968, gun control activists fought to regulate the firearms industry and firearm owners in hopes of regulating interstate commerce in firearms by prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers, and importers. This became known as the Gun Control Act of 1968 which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and became Title l of the U.S. federal firearms laws. This law has been active for over 50 years, but firearms remain easily accessible to a certain degree that leaves the public at unrest. Why has it taken this long for the people to mobilize against the Gun Control Act in hopes of reforming it to ensure greater protection from the risks of having firearms fall into the wrong hands?
Political process theorists have theorized that many individuals came together through the pre existing solidary networks to mobilize a movement, but the rise of the NeverAgain movement advocates that those pre existing networks may be
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For example, in the article by Neal Caren, he stated, “ Only during periods of great system-wide crisis, such as during the Depression, for example, were movements able to extract concessions from elites. Combined, these three developments formed the basis of PPT (Caren).” From his prior statement, it is true that the three components (political opportunity, mobilizing structures, and frames) truly contribute to the start of a social movement, with the use of digital media, people are able to receive all three of those components at a quicker rate. With the amount of support the #NeverAgain movement received, people were able to easily band together and create larger networks in order to conduct a successful social