The Moment When The National Rifle Association Shot Itself In The Foot [View all]

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District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision that upended decades of Second Amendment law and handed a major victory to supporters of gun rights, was “wrongly decided,” according to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

It’s a remarkable moment for the campaign itself and in the evolution of gun politics in the United States. Hillary Clinton’s husband, President Bill Clinton, reportedly believed that his party’s support for an assault weapon’s ban cost Democrats about 20 seats in the 1994 U.S. House elections. Now, more than two decades later, the former Secretary of State has apparently decided that there is no margin to trying not to anger the gun lobby. Short of promising to send federal agents to every gun owner’s home to personally seize their firearms, it’s hard to imagine another statement the Hillary Clinton campaign could have made that is more likely to antagonize the National Rifle Association and its allies.

As recently as three years ago, President Clinton sang a cautious tune on guns, warning Democratic donors “not be self-congratulatory about how brave you [are] for being for” gun regulation because “the only brave people are the people who are going to lose their jobs if they vote with you.” A few months later, four Senate Democrats joined the overwhelming majority of the chamber’s Republicans in filibustering a popular background checks bill to death.

Yet, despite this history of many Democrats being reluctant to cross the NRA and its supporters, the organization has spent the last several years seemingly doing everything in its power to discourage Democrats from playing ball with the gun lobby.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/05/23/3780717/moment-national-rifle-association-shot-foot/