Gun control is all abuzz as the Democratic candidates battle one another for a shot at President Donald Trump. While it’s just one of the issues up for debate, almost all of them have some plan that calls for the restriction of our right to keep and bear arms. Even the tamest of the bunch want to reinstitute an assault weapon ban–a ban that did nothing to reduce crime, it should be noted.

This time around, though, things have gotten a bit…interesting.

Washington Free Beacon staff writer Stephen Gutowski on Friday said the Democratic Party has shifted to the left on gun control at a faster rate in recent years.

“I think the Democratic Party has moved much further left on this issue over the last four to six years than they had been over the last several decades going back to the ’90s because it had long been viewed as a political loser for them,” Gutowski said during an interview on Newsmax TV.

Gutowski is absolutely correct.

With the exception of a few vehemently anti-gun locales–namely places like California, Illinois, Massachusetts, etc–gun control wasn’t a winning issue for Democrats. I’m still not convinced that it actually is, all things considered, but I don’t set strategy for the Democratic National Party, either.

Right now, they feel emboldened, so they’re pushing more and more. Gutowski spoke about Virginia, but the truth is the pattern can be seen at the national level. While candidates who tried to use gun control as their sole issue like Beto O’Rourke or Rep. Eric “Nuke ’em All” Swalwell have fallen by the wayside, others like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden continue on. Even unlikeable Mike Bloomberg is surging.

It seems that gun control is definitely something Democratic voters want.

The problem, though, is just how extreme some of these proposals have gotten. They’re not content with a return of the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban. They’re calling for everything under the sun they can think of and they’re prepared to denounce you as someone who actually wants kids to be killed if you’re not 100 percent on board with their lunacy.

That’s just the way of the world this year, or so it seems.

However, as Gutowski pointed out, it’s not the slam dunk Democrats may like to think. After all, the assault weapon confiscation attempt died horribly in the Virginia legislature. While there’s still an effort to ban the weapons, the bill is significantly watered down. That suggests that lawmakers felt the heat and recognize that if they want more than a term in office, it might behoove them to check their ego on this issue.

The question is, can we generate the political firepower to replicate this success on a national stage? Can we get tens of thousands of people at protests scattered throughout the nation in order to combat federal gun control regulations?

Because it’s clear that Democrats are going to come after our guns should they take power. If they do, it’s not going to be a slight inconvenience like 1994’s assault weapon ban was. No, this time it’s going to really hurt.