Former Vice President Joe Biden is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and has a sizeable lead in the polls. RealClearPolitics has him with a +7.8 lead in its average. Still, it’s a long time before the convention, and a lot can change. Most frontrunners tend to fade in the long run, and while that’s not universal, it happens often enough that Biden can’t afford to misstep.

However, gun control hasn’t been the winning issue for Democrats that they thought it would be. Two candidates who made gun control central points of their candidacy are already out of the race. While former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has just joined the race, he’s puttering along at a fairly pathetic 4.8 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.

Gun control doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of support, now is it?

That’s not stopping old Joe from pushing his anti-gun agenda anyway.

Former Vice President Joe Biden touted his gun control proposals on the seventh anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, saying he will prioritize efforts to combat the rise in shootings should he win the presidency.

“I said when I got into this race that I’m running to restore the soul of America,” he said in a statement. “Few things make the need for that more clear than school shootings – what kind of nation are we if we simply accept that kids learn active shooter drills with their ABCs?”

“I know that we can defeat the NRA,” he continued. “I’m the only candidate in the race who has done it before – twice, when I was in the Senate. As president I’ll do it again.”

Biden has proposed a sweeping gun control plan that would, among other things, repeal the federal law that protects gun manufacturers from civil liability claims, ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and mandate background checks for all gun sales.

The former vice president expressed confidence that gun control could be a galvanizing issue heading into the 2020 race.

Well, since it’s failed to be a galvanizing issue in the Democratic primary, color me skeptical.

However, understand one very important thing here. Regardless of how you feel about the NRA, Biden isn’t really talking about beating them. He’s talking about beating us. He’s talking about destroying a fundamental liberty that you and I enjoy and work to defend with the very core of our being.

He’s talking about being us.

To him, the NRA is just a boogieman, a name he can use to scare supporters and potential supporters, but he’s talking about folks like you and me, the average, law-abiding gun-rights supporter. He’s talking about beating us like we’re the enemy.

Of course, to him, we are. We’re people who aren’t moved by his anti-gun rhetoric and understand that universal background checks won’t stem the tide of guns on the black market. It’ll just make it harder for individuals to sell their guns or pass them down to family members. Magazine capacity limits and bans on certain guns won’t stop the truly bad guys, but it will make it harder for regular folks to defend themselves from the true evil in our society.

What Joe Biden is talking about isn’t just about beating you and me, it’s about beating a way of life that has kept Americans safe and free since the dawn of our nation.

Let’s not allow him to tip-toe around that fact.