How Dem Candidates Embracing Gun Control May Well Backfire

By Tom Knighton

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

The 2020 campaign field is growing quickly. Everyone from former vice presidents to mayors of towns of 122,000 people is running for a shot at President Donald Trump.

More and more, though, the candidates are embracing gun control rhetoric as they seek to distance themselves from the pack.

Democratic presidential hopefuls are embracing gun control as the 2020 campaign accelerates, deepening the divide in U.S. politics between rural areas with a rich gun culture and urban and suburban areas where the mood has turned in favor of tougher laws.

Bolstered by shifting public sentiment, the candidates are increasingly championing gun limits including universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons. The shift follows high-profile mass shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada, and comes as the National Rifle Association’s political influence wanes.

Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders, who previously dismissed calls for tougher firearms restrictions, is now promising to “move aggressively” to combat gun violence, telling a crowd in Wisconsin this month that if he’s elected president, “people who should not have guns will not have guns.” Other top contenders — including California Senator Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke — are …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms