SmarterthanYou
rebel
As the recent election results in Virginia and New Jersey showed, Democrats have a growing problem with rural and working-class voters. They also have a problem with Latino voters and independents and non-college-educated women. That’s a lot of problems that they need to solve before 2022, or risk a historic midterm rebuke that could cost them both chambers of Congress as well as multiple state Houses and county and municipal contests from coast to coast.
The reasons for these defections are numerous, with most of the post-election analysis focused on schools (and wedge issues such as “critical race theory”), the economy (rising inflation) and the response to the Covid pandemic. But if Democrats want to repair their relationships with these key voter groups there’s another issue that can do it. It’s not climate change or Covid vaccines or even child tax credits. It’s guns.
Democrats need to learn how to talk about firearm rights and crime issues without demonizing millions of voters who own guns. What Democrats don’t realize is that the very voters they are losing by the tens of thousands each cycle are also the people who account for the largest surge of new firearm sales.
There are some 140 million gun owners in this country, and some 10 to 12 million of them purchased their first firearm in the past two years. But it’s not just the number of new gun owners that’s important. It’s who they are. Data show the biggest increases in gun purchases are among women and people of color — some of the very groups that Democrats have long relied on to form winning coalitions and who lately have shown signs of disenchantment with the party. Moreover, 48 percent of self-defined political independents own guns or live with someone who does. Most of these purchases are handguns (not assault rifles, which capture so much media attention) and most of them are driven by concerns of personal safety.
Democrats can continue to oppose gun owners’ rights to carry their weapons safely and legally, alienating an increasingly important segment of society and their potential voting electorate, or they can reposition themselves in support of gun owners on reforms aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
The Second Amendment is viewed by millions of voters as a fail-safe clause protecting all other rights and liberties. Many gun-owning voters hold inviolate a belief that a government which cannot or will not protect its citizens has no right denying them the means to protect themselves.
Asian Americans, Hispanics and most especially women are buying guns because they feel threatened. Hate-filled rhetoric on social media and a few high-visibility news incidents validate citizens’ concerns about feeling vulnerable. Does owning a firearm actually make you safer? That depends, but it certainly makes you feel better protected.
Democrats might not like guns or think the Second Amendment deserves the same protection as the First, but if the Supreme Court rules against New York’s concealed carry law, it would be foolish of the Democrats to continue to promote a sweeping anti-gun platform.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/11/16/democrats-gun-owners-522562
The reasons for these defections are numerous, with most of the post-election analysis focused on schools (and wedge issues such as “critical race theory”), the economy (rising inflation) and the response to the Covid pandemic. But if Democrats want to repair their relationships with these key voter groups there’s another issue that can do it. It’s not climate change or Covid vaccines or even child tax credits. It’s guns.
Democrats need to learn how to talk about firearm rights and crime issues without demonizing millions of voters who own guns. What Democrats don’t realize is that the very voters they are losing by the tens of thousands each cycle are also the people who account for the largest surge of new firearm sales.
There are some 140 million gun owners in this country, and some 10 to 12 million of them purchased their first firearm in the past two years. But it’s not just the number of new gun owners that’s important. It’s who they are. Data show the biggest increases in gun purchases are among women and people of color — some of the very groups that Democrats have long relied on to form winning coalitions and who lately have shown signs of disenchantment with the party. Moreover, 48 percent of self-defined political independents own guns or live with someone who does. Most of these purchases are handguns (not assault rifles, which capture so much media attention) and most of them are driven by concerns of personal safety.
Democrats can continue to oppose gun owners’ rights to carry their weapons safely and legally, alienating an increasingly important segment of society and their potential voting electorate, or they can reposition themselves in support of gun owners on reforms aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
The Second Amendment is viewed by millions of voters as a fail-safe clause protecting all other rights and liberties. Many gun-owning voters hold inviolate a belief that a government which cannot or will not protect its citizens has no right denying them the means to protect themselves.
Asian Americans, Hispanics and most especially women are buying guns because they feel threatened. Hate-filled rhetoric on social media and a few high-visibility news incidents validate citizens’ concerns about feeling vulnerable. Does owning a firearm actually make you safer? That depends, but it certainly makes you feel better protected.
Democrats might not like guns or think the Second Amendment deserves the same protection as the First, but if the Supreme Court rules against New York’s concealed carry law, it would be foolish of the Democrats to continue to promote a sweeping anti-gun platform.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/11/16/democrats-gun-owners-522562
