Special Report: Bloomberg reloads in push for gun control [View all]

[DanTex]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/04/us-usa-bloomberg-guns-idUSTRE8130BJ20120204

(Reuters) - Among the slick, million-dollar ads for the likes of Pepsi and Honda during the Super Bowl this Sunday, viewers in New York and Boston will see a far more modest spot. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be sitting on a couch touting an issue most politicians avoid like the plague: gun control.

The two mayors, whose local teams face off in the big game, are making the pitch for Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), the organization they co-founded in 2006.

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"We have to face the fact that both Democrats and Republicans have for a while viewed this as the third rail of American politics," said John Feinblatt, who helps run MAIG as Bloomberg's chief advisor for policy and strategic planning. (Bloomberg is an independent; Menino is a Democrat.)

Democrats, who are more likely than Republicans to favor some restrictions on gun ownership, made a conscious decision to stay away from the gun issue in the 2010 midterm congressional elections. The aim: protect the so-called Blue Dog conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, who didn't toe the party line on gun control. Most were defeated anyway.

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Given the strength of gun lobby, I can understand why some Dems have shied away from the issue. However, not just on guns, but on all issues where Dems have given ground in order to placate the crazies, it hasn't helped. We end up with less progressive policies, and then the right-wingers still vote Republican.

The vast majority of NRA types and "gun rights" extremists are going to vote Republican, regardless of how much ground Dems cede on gun control. In the same way that anti-abortion fanatics are going to vote Republican even if Dems give in on a women's right to choose. And "Club for Growth" libertarian types aren't going to start voting for Dems just because we abandon the fight against global warming.

Due to the strength of right-wing special interests, gun control is an uphill fight at this moment in this country, but I don't see any reason in principle why we should be able to get our rates of gun violence in line with places like Canada or the UK.