WOW: Guns to surpass car accidents as leading cause of deaths among young people

[DanTex]

212. Going after the AWB didn't make any difference in the background check vote.

Furthermore, the fact that you are opposed to things like the AWB and registration gives you quite a bit of a conflict of interest when giving advice to people who support gun control. It's a bit like the oil industry advising environmentalists to stop talking about climate change.

Also, again, I totally disagree that mentioning things that are "too far left" gives the Republican an advantage. Like I said, we've tried your strategy, not just on guns but on many other issues. The Democrats trend towards the middle to not upset the right-wing base, and then what happens? The Republicans move further right, and now the center is where the GOP used to be.

Can you name any issue where moving to the center from the get-go and trying to placate the Republican base has proved successful? Look what happened on the debt ceiling. First, Obama tried making concessions up-front, and the GOP sensed that he was soft and got the sequester. Then he got smarter, and decided to draw a line in the sand, and the GOP lost. You seem to be under the impression that somehow the GOP will behave reasonably if only the Dems don't push them too hard. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I get that gun registration nationally is unlikely to pass congress right now. But remember, this is due to special interest politics, not the will of the people. Gun registration polls over 50%. The way forward is not to shy away from the issue, but to talk about it more. The gun lobby wins when they are they able control the dialog. Which is what you are trying to do by taking everything except for background checks off the table.