Anti-gunners tend to try to have their cake and eat it, too. When crime is high, even in anti-gun areas, the problem is insufficient gun control. When crime drops, it's because of gun control, and it's a justification for more of it. No matter what happens, they see it as proof they're right.
But right now, they're freaking out because that's not working.
See, President Donald Trump has taken a very law-and-order stance. He's rolled out the National Guard to help achieve that, even when leftist mayors claim they've got everything under control, even as gunshots echo in the distance. They're all very "Baghdad Bob" in that regard.
And it seems to be working, which has anti-gunners reeling.
Nevertheless, the gun-control group Giffords thinks they see a window of opportunity for their anti-freedom messaging to resonate with voters. According to Politico, Giffords sent a “private polling memo that shows potential openings” on gun-control policies “to House Democrats and their campaign committees … .”
Giffords is arguing that if the narrative can just be semantically spun in their favor, then voters will still blame law-abiding citizens for violent crime. If so, their gun-control candidates can still win in battleground districts.
The gun-control groups are working overtime to spin this issue because, when it comes to which party voters trust more on crime, the answer is undeniably pro-Second Amendment candidates and politicians; indeed, pro-freedom Republicans regularly lead anti-gun Democrats by double digits—this includes a 20-point margin in a Reuters/Ipsos poll and a 22-point lead in a Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
Giffords, nevertheless, apparently has convinced itself that if anti-gun politicians lean in on their gun-control agenda, they can deceive enough voters to win. To make this case, they handed out a private poll sponsored by Giffords and House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, to anti-Second Amendment members of Congress. This poll reportedly shows that just 38% of the voters in swing districts favor gun-control-promoting politicians on crime. But that same poll also allegedly shows that anti-Second Amendment politicians can erase this disadvantage by playing up certain gun-control falsehoods.
This “battleground-district survey” does begin with a bleak assessment of the prospects of politicians who distract from their anti-freedom and revolving-door-justice policies by blaming the rights of law-abiding citizens. “Voters also reported preferring Republicans to Democrats with preventing and reducing crime and cracking down on violent crime—gaps that grew among swing voters,” reported Politico.
Giffords apparently used a loaded poll to justify their hopes and dreams here because it suggested people would swing their way. Of course, they've been claiming polling has been on their side for at least a decade now, and the votes don't generally reflect that in most places.
That doesn't mean they don't think they can spin things sufficiently to yield midterm results they like, but two can play that game, and the NRA isn't fighting for its life anymore, plus groups like the SAF and GOA are stronger than ever. Spin works both ways, for better or worse.
The truth, though, is that if things were shaping up like they want everyone to believe, Giffords wouldn't have to worry. They wouldn't need to see a way through the cracks because they'd be obvious to everyone, especially on guns.
There are issues that are going to hurt Trump, such as affordability, assuming things stay as they are.
Yet violent crime isn't likely to be one of them.
The homicide rate is dropping. Violent crime as a whole is going down. Where it's high profile, it's easily died to some progressive policy that took a very hands-off approach to punishing criminals.
In other words, Giffords is desperate, and they're far from alone on that.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them push ads during the midterms that don't even mention guns, crime, or anything of that sort, and instead focus on issues they think Trump is vulnerable on, because their core issue isn't the winner they want it to be.
