Sure. A few are raising taxes on the wealthy, raising the minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, gun control, etc.
Sure. A few are raising taxes on the wealthy, raising the minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, gun control, etc.
Gun control is unpopular so it’s a bad example. The rest are good examples but none of these are important issues for the median voter at the national level.
"Polling well" is a poor indicator of how people feel. Advocacy groups (any side) will put out a poll designed to generate a very positive response for their position and use this to convince other people their position is more popular than it is.
The actual test is how it does in actual elections, especially ballot proposals where voters can uncouple their gun policy from other issues.
Maine, which has voted blue in every presidential election this century, tried to get universal background checks on all gun transfers, and lost.
A mass shooting in a school is incredibly rare. You're more likely to win the lotto than to have a family member at a school with one. Nearly any effort at stopping those, specifically, is going to be wasted or even move things backwards.
We could stop giving them oxygen to discourage the copycats. The media has gotten good about stopping the wall-to-wall coverage of the shooter and their backstory and manifesto but we could go even further. We don't need their pictures or names out there, either.
For the courts, have increased prosecution of people carrying guns illegally (stop classifying it as "non-violent"). And mandatory prosecution of people who use a gun in a crime. Make the risks of being caught with an illegal gun high enough that people leave them at home. You can slowly, over time, try to reduce the number of handguns by making people think that they don't need one to be safe because other people aren't carrying hot guns, and they can see that public order is being enforced.
Specifics don’t poll well. There are plenty of gun laws that don’t get enforced because progressives are more concerned about disparate impacts rather than public safety. Gun control is not a winning issue for Democrats which is why Harris mentioned owning guns.
I wonder if they’d have more success if they emphasized gun ownership, the second amendment, *and* gun control. I think all gun control without advocating for the prior two is definitely a loser.
They need to take the time to understand the basics of guns. The average Dem pol knows next to nothing about guns and it becomes readily apparent when then open their mouth. Makes them incredibly easy to dismiss.
Sure. A few are raising taxes on the wealthy, raising the minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, gun control, etc.
Gun control is unpopular so it’s a bad example. The rest are good examples but none of these are important issues for the median voter at the national level.
Gun control polls pretty well, doesn’t it? I think voters get cold feet when it comes to enacting those measures, though.
"Polling well" is a poor indicator of how people feel. Advocacy groups (any side) will put out a poll designed to generate a very positive response for their position and use this to convince other people their position is more popular than it is.
The actual test is how it does in actual elections, especially ballot proposals where voters can uncouple their gun policy from other issues.
Maine, which has voted blue in every presidential election this century, tried to get universal background checks on all gun transfers, and lost.
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Background_Checks_for_Gun_Sales,_Question_3_(2016) Nevada, more blue, barely passed a similar bill the next year.
Good points. I remember Josh writing about this. Off topic some: What do you think we can do to stop mass shootings? Particularly in schools?
A mass shooting in a school is incredibly rare. You're more likely to win the lotto than to have a family member at a school with one. Nearly any effort at stopping those, specifically, is going to be wasted or even move things backwards.
We could stop giving them oxygen to discourage the copycats. The media has gotten good about stopping the wall-to-wall coverage of the shooter and their backstory and manifesto but we could go even further. We don't need their pictures or names out there, either.
For the courts, have increased prosecution of people carrying guns illegally (stop classifying it as "non-violent"). And mandatory prosecution of people who use a gun in a crime. Make the risks of being caught with an illegal gun high enough that people leave them at home. You can slowly, over time, try to reduce the number of handguns by making people think that they don't need one to be safe because other people aren't carrying hot guns, and they can see that public order is being enforced.
Specifics don’t poll well. There are plenty of gun laws that don’t get enforced because progressives are more concerned about disparate impacts rather than public safety. Gun control is not a winning issue for Democrats which is why Harris mentioned owning guns.
I wonder if they’d have more success if they emphasized gun ownership, the second amendment, *and* gun control. I think all gun control without advocating for the prior two is definitely a loser.
They need to take the time to understand the basics of guns. The average Dem pol knows next to nothing about guns and it becomes readily apparent when then open their mouth. Makes them incredibly easy to dismiss.