Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: "despite objections from most Democrats..." [View all]benEzra
(12,148 posts)to right-leaning law-and-order voters, thereby peeling some of them away from the repubs in the early '90s. Instead, it backfired spectacularly and drove millions of gun-owning Dems and indies to either sit home or vote (R) in '94, '96, '00, and '04. Unfortunately, the Third Way and affiliates doubled down and made it a Tier 1 shibboleth in the late '90s and through the '00's, and with help from plenty of Wall Street and foundation money, it gradually took over the party. Which is how a traditionally right-leaning authoritarian position (UK, Australia, the Brady Campaign, Jim Crow, the Mulford Act, the Sullivan Law) became transmogrified into a "progressive" one.
If John F. Kennedy were alive today, he'd be kicked out of the party over his ownership of an AR-15, and be the subject of a daily Two Minutes Hate over his enjoyment of target shooting.