Millennials are driving the gun debate, and people of all generations, of all political parties, are listening. Several current polls show that support for stricter gun laws have risen sharply among both Republicans and Independents, with some polls showing Republicans now at the 50% mark.
March on, Millennials! However, the only way this will work is if you actually vote. Voting with your feet is nice, but a ballot is what actually gets tallied.
Picture this scenario:
- Far right propagandists say that Democrats are trying to take away our Second Amendment rights. (I say propagandists because this isn’t actually true… and strange to say, half of the gun owners I know are Democrats.)
- Republicans jump on this an as issue that will mobilize the base during the 2018 midterm elections. (Republicans are known for coming out and voting during midterms.)
- While Democrats are motivated this year as well, Millennials, who pushed for gun control but who are notorious for not voting in midterms, don’t actually come out to vote.
- The result: Dems don’t ride the wave they thought they would. Republicans win.
Democrats (and for that matter Republicans, if they support reasonable gun control legislation), cannot allow the NRA or anyone else to equate gun control with “taking away our Second Amendment rights.” That rhetoric is false: the Second Amendment very much allows for gun regulations. Remember the very first words of the Second Amendment: “A well-regulated Militia…”
So we should not talk about this as “repealing the Second Amendment.” It isn’t necessary. We just need to put into place rational, well-thought-out regulations that gun owners and non-owners can get behind. Americans want a safer society, not fewer rights.
And remember to vote, Millennials!
[Photo courtesy Lorie Shaull, Creative Commons license.]
Yes, millennials: vote early, vote often 🙂
Of course, a House Dem. from the Bay area just called for confiscating ARs and jailing those who refuse to turn them in. Not sure he said that to win the primary but its all over the news as “yes, darling, they are coming for my guns”. My concern is that Dems will get on a more extreme bandwagon than is practicable and shoot themselves, so to speak, in the ballot box as well as foot.
Adam Winkler, the UCLA Constitutional Law professor and writer of Gunfight, has quipped that AR bans are counterproductive to reducing gun violence. I think Dems need to take heed. As you say in your latest post, its really important to win some legislatures and avoid further gerrymandering. Guns will eventually take care of themselves.
I would just hate to be the person assigned the task of wrestling California’s AR-15’s from their owners.