Dems abandoning gun control?
If you read the letters section of the New York Times, that answer would be no. Honestly, of the many letters Kristof’s article would generate, there was only one pro-gun letter out of five?
Meanwhile, Max Burns:
When Al Gore took a leftward swing towards the end of the 2000 campaign, the chilling effect in his home state of Tennessee was clearly evident. Tennessee, like moderate West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio, has a delicate balance of just how much liberalism they are willing to stomach.
In reference to what the Dems could currently do:
Losing places like West Virginia must be looked at as a mistake, an error on the behalf of the Democratic Party. That mistake is a direct result of four years of anti-gun rights policy from the very liberal left wing of our party, those who are obsessed with assault weapons bans and long waiting periods. President Clinton’s Assault Weapons Ban most likely did far more to hurt the Democrats going into 2000, and continuing into 2004, than anything that has been done recently.
To begin repairing this image of Democrats as untrusting elitists who seek to take away the guns of law abiding hunters, we must acknowledge what is true for many moderates – the Second Amendment is an important part of our Constitution.
While the Second Amendment is not about hunting (don’t say that too loud, it scares the white people), the gist is that, at best, advancing gun control is a regional thing. Apologies for getting into the red v. blue state thing, but expanding gun control doesn’t fly in a lot of the red states. And, the fact is, the assault weapons ban passed by one vote and that vote was the vice president (and the NRA wanted the instant background check system). It also only passed because it had a sunset provision. The new wave of gun control (banning semi-automatics and smart guns) generally is not a winner outside the blue states.
As Gary Pace, a former Democrat, opined:
You guys just don’t get it with the old confederacy/south, plains states and Rocky Mountains. In my opinion the Democratic Party has sold these areas of the country out. There is no room in the Democratic party for anyone that is not toeing the line as a pro-choice, tree-hugging, pro-gun control, death-penalty-opposing liberal elitist. I don’t feel there is anywhere in the Democratic party for dissent or to talk about these issues. It is either embrace the far left Northeastern liberal intelligentsia or become a Republican. The Democratic party used to be the party of miners and loggers. It is viewed as the enemy by those groups now. The Democratic party used to be bottom up not top down.
