My
diary the other day motivated a really positive discussion about the midterms, the gun toting crowd and how Bush has lost the libertarian, gun toting vote. The Republicans have relied on the gun toting vote for the 5% that puts them over the top in close elections. For the forseeable future the Republicans have potentially lost this vote because of the accumulated effect of the last five years. The NSA eavesdropping finally broke the camels back for the guys at the gun shop. These guys will NEVER be Democrats, but that is not the point. They won't vote for Republicans either unless we give them an excuse. After about 100 posts, a lot of Kossacks couldn't resist giving the gun nuts an excuse.
The point is that their attitude towards Bush can be leveraged and manipulated to guarantee Democratic wins in the Rocky Mountain region in '06. Like most politics, it is emotional and right now the guys at the gun shop are revolted by Bush. They still think a NYC liberal is the very incarnation of evil, but Bush is has already been consigned to hell.
Guns are legal. Trying to restrict gun ownership can have only two effects: helping Republicans win elections and generating money for the Republicans. It may be politically possible to restrict gun ownership in the future, but it isn't happening now and the single issue gun rights voters have been killing us at the polls for the last 30 years. Finally, we have a chance to break the gun vote off from the Republican herd and a puritanical few on the left want to screw it up. Are we congenital losers? Politics is about winning. Restricting gun ownership is a political loser and there are too many HUGE issues that require Democratic wins in 2006 and 2008. What are your priorities? Do you want to win and change EVERYTHING or keep on losing because of holiier than thou rightousness?