On Mother’s Day 2000, over one hundred thousand mothers assembled in Washington, D.C., calling for stricter gun control. The marchers demanded that legislators enact laws to prevent school shootings and other gun tragedies that were claiming the lives of the nation’s children. They pointed out that “since the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, over one million Americans have been killed by firearms.” The rally garnered much media attention and helped generate public support for the organizers’ goals.

The Million Mom March is just one of many campaigns working to strengthen America’s gun laws. Numerous organizations oppose gun control, however, the most notable being the National Rifle Association (NRA), which, with over 3 million members, is the nation’s largest organization of gun owners. Although columnist E.J...