General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Its time for Democrats to drop the gun control platform [View all]branford
(4,462 posts)Gun control has clearly been a losing electoral proposition for Democrats since Clinton lost control of Congress after the 1994 AWB (and admitted as much), Gore lost his home state of TN and thus the presidential election, and Democratic losses (moderates and otherwise) on the state and federal level since Obama, where Republicans now control the Senate, have their largest majority in the House in generations, and control more statehouses and governships than ever, speaks for itself.
The belief in the importance of the Second Amendment and an American historical, cultural, and legal individual right to keep and bear arms is so pervasive and important that it's enshrined in the official Democratic Party platform, and support for gun rights and opposition to restrictions is steadily growing and at record highs in many areas (which is only bolstered by the recent Supreme Court decisions).
Nevertheless, many Democrats here and elsewhere still demand purity on advancing strict gun control well beyond the wishes of millions of Democratic gun owners and their supporters (and important moderates and others in competitive states) and the obvious polls.
It doesn't seem to matter that all their efforts have achieved is Democrats losing more elections without any demonstrable chance of passing national (and many state) firearm restrictions (and the ones that pass are often still struck down by the courts).
It's a lose - lose scenario, with fewer Democrats, our entire progressive agenda on all issues is jeopardized and still no gun control is passed.