http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/news/opinion/10380171.htm?1c
BARBARA SHELLY
After the statewide referendum, the $3 million campaign by the National Rifle Association, the rallies in the state capital and the hot air exhaled in legislative debate, it seems Missourians aren't so interested in packing handguns after all.
Nine months into the brave new era of concealed carry, fewer than 14,000 people have applied for permits, based on sheriff department requests to the Missouri Highway Patrol for background checks.
The state's three largest jurisdictions — Jackson and St. Louis counties and St. Louis city — aren't yet issuing permits. Law enforcement officials figure some people are carrying guns in their vehicles, which doesn't require licensing. Some Missouri residents have obtained permits from other states.
But none of those factors change the fact that fewer than 1 percent of the citizens eligible to carry concealed guns in Missouri appear interested in doing so. The experience of other states predicts most people who plan to seek a permit will apply in the first year the opportunity becomes available.
No state has debated the merits of concealed carry as thoroughly as Missouri. Politicians deadlocked for years before putting the question to voters. Citizens rejected a concealed carry law by a narrow margin. Pro-gun lawmakers wouldn't take “no” for an answer. They passed a bill and finally overrode Gov. Bob Holden's veto, making the carrying of guns legal in the state.
But if the good people of Missouri don't much care about carrying handguns, what was all the commotion about?
Manipulation by special interests, of course. It's the force that drives today's political process.
Amid the chatter about red states, blue states and the values gap, a countertheory gained credence in the just-concluded political season. It is best articulated in a slim volume compiled by three political scientists titled Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America.
The premise is that Americans generally agree on most issues, but are pulled into opposing camps by activists and interest groups.
“Gun control is a particularly illustrative issue,” lead author Morris Fiorina of Stanford University noted in the book.
Polls show that most Americans, if asked, favor gun control provisions such as trigger locks and background checks. But most people don't wake up in the morning thinking about either trigger locks or the Second Amendment.
“Antigun and pro-gun activists are another story, of course, and they fight tooth and nail over what most Americans view as a relatively minor issue,” Fiorina wrote.
Politicians are drawn into the fray, either as willing recruits or draftees. The NRA, with its sizable war chest, is especially good at forcing its issues onto the public agenda.
Fiorina argues that most people are content to go about their lives, leaving the democratic process, even on the local level, to “the intense minority.” This group, which encompasses liberal and conservative camps, holds passionate and uncompromising views on issues that most people don't think much about, until they are pushed onto the public agenda.
That's why we're seeing campaigns and legislative sessions preoccupied with abortion, gay marriage and the way science is taught in schools, when elected officials should be concentrating on health care, roads and bridges and preparing students to meet the demands of a changing world.
The prospects for getting the process back on track aren't encouraging, what with political parties scrambling to “energize the base,” and special interests becoming ever more skilled at raising money and manipulating politicians.
Campaign finance reform limiting the influence of interest groups would help. So would truly informed participation by ordinary citizens, who would have to muster the time and will to demand that politicians follow a broader agenda.
Those are lofty expectations, and the political process may get crazier before it gets better.
But at least we can recognize it for what it is — an attention grab by the intense minority, while the task of working for the greater good gets lost in the shuffle.
Barbara Shelly is a member of The Star's Editorial Board. To reach her, call (816) 234-4594 or send e-mail to bshelly@kcstar.com.