Just two days after a gunman murdered 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut with a legally purchased arsenal, President Obama issued an unequivocal call for gun control legislation. Over the next few months, Colorado, New York, Connecticut, and Maryland all passed new laws, but the national debate grew contentious. An assault weapons ban that had seemed like a certainty quickly died in Congress. A background check amendment—which polls showed had the support of 90 percent of voters—hung in the balance before being defeated. Almost six months after the Newtown shootings, a gunman fired 70 rounds in 15 minutes on the Santa Monica Community College campus and killed five people, leading to calls for new state and federal gun regulations. Where does all this leave gun-control advocates, gun-rights advocates, our legislators, and ordinary Americans? Is the battle around gun control destined to die over and over—only to be revived by the next massacre? Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell, USC legal scholar Jody David Armour, and Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Executive Director Robyn Thomas visit Zócalo to discuss where the gun debate might go next.

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