I was on staff at American Rifleman magazine in the early 1990s when things looked like they were REALLY starting to turn against us.
Brady, the "Assault Weapons Ban," and a bunch of import restrictions and new "findings" by BATF, a hostile Congress and a very hostile White House, new anti-gun laws being proposed virtually every day...
It did not feel like a good time to be a gun owner.
Worse, the anti-gun groups were fluorishing, and were crowing about how the gun lobby's back was broken, and it would never recover, and how they were ushering in a newer, safer, and soon to be gun free America...
It took a while, but things started to turn around, slowly, and really beginning at the state level. More and more states began to pass shall issue conceal firearms laws, and people began to wake up.
Opinion polls that had been supporting gun banners started to turn around. Membership in the gun grabber groups began to wane, and NRA's membership levels (as well as for other groups) began to jump.
In 1994 or 1995 Virginia was debating shall issue to replace its highly politicized "up to the sheriff's discretion, and usually only for big donors to his re-election campaign" issue system.
Jim Brady came to Richmond to tell legislators that more guns equals more crime, and how there would be rivers of blood flowing in the streets from random fatal encounters sparked by conceal carriers.
The state legislature gave him a standing ovation...
And soon afterwards (IIRC within a couple of hours of his speaking) the Virginia House voted overwhelmingly to adopt shall issue.
Virginia was but one of a whole series of dominos that began to fall regarding concealed carry.
And the rivers of blood and mass shootings by CCW holders that are routinely predicted? We all know how those turned out...
Even better, support for the gun grabbing organizations declined precipitiously. Handgun Control Inc. came close to bankruptcy, IIRC, changed its name, and continues to live on the razor's edge of insolvency.
The Million Mom's March dwindled to a Few Moms March. People here reported going to MMM meetings that were heavily advertised in their local areas to find 10 or fewer people turning out.
Things have gotten better for firearms owners, but we're not out of the woods yet.
The gun grabbers are intent on their meaningless goals.