The movie-theater massacre in Aurora, Colo. will inevitably raise questions about Supreme Court rulings that upheld individuals’ rights to own guns, Professor Lisa McElroy said in an interview on WWL Radio of New Orleans on July 20.

The 12 deaths and 58 injuries resulting from accused gunman James Holmes’ rampage will drive gun-control advocates to seek stricter gun laws, McElroy predicted. 

But Supreme Court rulings in 2008 and 2010 that struck down federal and state efforts to curb gun ownership by individuals make it extremely unlikely that stricter laws will last, McElroy said. 

“The court very rarely changes its minds on issues this quickly,” McElroy said. 

The best way to get the rulings reversed, McElroy wrote in an opinion essay published July 22 in the Huffington Post, is to elect a president who will change the make up of the Supreme Court. 

“And so what can we do to protect our little Batmen and Robins, kids like my nephews who might be at risk at school or at the grocery store, or, yes, at the movie theater? We can vote,” McElroy said in the essay, which alludes to her family’s Colorado roots and her young nephews’ worship of super heroes. “We can get out the vote. We can support candidates who support gun control.”