Reply #319: That misunderstanding was the same that Kerry's advisers made... [View All]

[benEzra]

She responded by saying she didn't know who to vote for in 2004 and she regrets voting for Bush. I responded by saying something like...OMG, how could you vote for that guy? and she said "he came across as a RICH GUY who wanted to take away her husbands guns". I said....No he hunts too! You actually bought into the media bullshit?!!.....then I had a customer that needed assistance. But, it made me realize how gullible the American people are. She said she doesn't really follow the news or politics....she probably caught some sound bite and it stuck. Sounds like a lot of people in this Country.

That misunderstanding was precisely the one that made the gun issue an albatross around the neck of Kerry/Edwards in 2004.

The gun issue is not about hunting guns. The vast majority of gun owners (4 out of 5) are NONHUNTERS, and of the 1 in 5 that hunt, many/most also own nonhunting guns. It was proposals to ban nonhunting style guns (modern-looking small-caliber rifles, precision target rifles, handguns), and legislate the shape of civilian rifle stocks, that gave rise to the "Dems'll take yer guns" meme in '94, '96, '00, and '04.

More background here (DU thread): Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What?

Dems REALLY need to understand this point. Hunting is almost totally irrelevant to the gun issue, and that is why the DLC's talk-up-hunting-while-demonizing-owners-of-nonhunting-guns strategy was such an unmitigated disaster 1994-2004.