Biden, Democrats Want to 'Flip the Script' On Guns. Here's Why That Won't Help Them

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Joe Biden ran for office as an anti-gunner. He made his intentions on gun control very clear. When the dust settled on election day, he was the new President of the United States.

Advertisement

As a result, it's easy for the Biden camp to look at that, figure in the numerous polls they've seen saying the American people want gun control, and figure that with the NRA in disarray, they've got an opportunity.

After all, the NRA has been the 800-pound gorilla in the gun debate and with their current woes, they're not 800-pound gorilla-ing like they used to.

Sure enough, it looks like the Biden camp wants to flip that particular script to push for gun control.

Groups pushing tighter gun laws have been building political muscle through multiple elections, boosted by the outcry following mass shootings at schools and other public places, to say nothing of the nation's daily gun violence.

Now, gun-control advocates and many Democrats see additional openings created by hardline positions of the gun lobby and their most influential champion, former President Donald Trump. They also point to controversies surrounding the National Rifle Association, which has undergone leadership shuffles and membership declines after a key former executive was found to have expensed private jet flights and accepted vacations from group vendors.

“It is a false choice to suggest that you have to be in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday in Maryland, where she spoke as part of a series of White House and campaign events focused on gun violence. President Joe Biden will speak Tuesday at a conference hosted by Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund.


Biden's campaign says gun control could be a motivating issue for suburban college-educated women who may be decisive in several key battlegrounds this fall. The campaign and its allies have already circulated clips of Trump saying, “We have to get over it," after an Iowa school shooting in January and then telling NRA members in May that he “did nothing” on guns during his presidency.

Advertisement

That's certainly a take.

However, it's ignoring one key fact. Most Americans just don't care that much about gun control.

A whopping eight percent of Americans surveyed for a study consider guns an important issue and there was no mention of just what "important issue" even meant, which means most of those eight percent could be pro-gun. Even if they're not, it's unlike that eight percent are people who weren't going to vote for Biden anyway. Ignoring the issue isn't likely to hurt with that group since they weren't going anywhere.

Let's also consider that for the Biden administration, focusing so much on gun control at a time when Americans have a lot of other concerns might be a terrible idea.

Then again, this is the same Biden campaign that thought running on the president's economic successes would be a winning strategy, so I can't be too shocked by literally anything happening here.

Biden and company can try to flip this script, but I doubt they'll enjoy the fruits of their labor based on what we've long known.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member