The POLITICS of guns as an issue

[Bone]

@Little_Nemo

Can you imagine a voter saying “I feel protecting our Second Amendment rights is the most important thing a politician can do. So I’m voting for the Democrat because I feel the Democratic Party are the ones who will protect those rights.”? Or a voter saying “Gun violence is the worst problem America is facing and it should be our number one priority. So I’m voting Republican because I think the Republicans will be the ones who will enact strong gun control laws.”? Both of these hypothetical positions seem absurd. They demonstrate that if a person feels gun control is their top priority, for or against, they’re going to vote for one party. The two parties have become identified as being on opposite sides of this issue.

What if they hypothetical is instead, “Gun violence is the worst problem America is facing and it should be our number one priority. So I’m voting Republican because I think the Republicans will be the ones who prosecute crime more vigorously and will protect the right of citizens to protect themselves.”?

Bone mentioned the 2010 California gubernatorial race between the Democrat Jerry Brown and the Republican Meg Whitman. Brown was not seen as a major supporter of gun rights but Whitman had a reputation as being strongly in favor of gun control. So some people voted against Whitman (and for Brown by default) because of the issue of gun control. But this was a very rare exception to the general rule.

Another item to note, Jerry Brown also signed an amicus brief in McDonald vs. Chicago in favor of incorporating the 2nd amendment against the states.

This is a quote from Don Kates (an influential 2nd amendment advocate):

"I have been asked to comment on the up-coming California
gubernatorial election: Of the Republican candidate, an immensely
wealthy woman named Meg Whitman, I know nothing except that she is the
former Chief Executive Officer of eBay and that she is alleged to be
anti-gun by some people who claim to know and that the allegation is not
surprising to anyone.

SPECIFICS: Whitman has no interest in meeting with gun groups to solicit
their support; Whitman has supported Barbara Boxer; Whitman supports
“environmental” lawsuits that are anti-hunting but makes no attempt to
gain the aid of gun groups on environmental issues.

In contrast, I do know Jerry Brown. We went to law school together
though we were not big buddies. And when I contacted him about
supporting the pro-Second Amendment position in the McDonald case, he
filed an influential pro-Second Amendment brief with the US Supreme
Court. I know that he personally made the decision to do this,
overruling his staff; and he wrote the brief himself. (He is an able
lawyer.) When he was assailed by anti-gun forces, his response was that
the 2d Amendment is a “civil rights issue.”"

He’s been kind of hit or miss so far, but has vetoed some crap legislation in CA that probably would have passed if Whitman was in office.

[Little_Nemo]

@Bone

What if they hypothetical is instead, “Gun violence is the worst problem America is facing and it should be our number one priority. So I’m voting Republican because I think the Republicans will be the ones who prosecute crime more vigorously and will protect the right of citizens to protect themselves.”?

Exactly. That’s what I’ve been saying.