trollfist:

kontextmaschine:

When liberals are like “how many heavily covered mass shootings will it take for firmer gun control to be passed?” I don’t know if they appreciate the dynamics reinforce rightists against them every time one happens and they’re seen making a big fuss.

Like, did Joe Biden make guns a big thing? His platform might make favorable noises about gun control, but his thing is all about redoing the Clinton trick of moderating and relegitimizing the Democrats, he learned from the assault weapons ban.

But oh, there sure are liberals all hopped up now. Some of them talk about they want to ban all guns or otherwise inflict pain and pressure on gun owners. Some of them lament how Democrats can never pass gun control measures without more seats. Non-liberals listen, and put 2 and 2 together.

And so next election, when the Democrats ask for help in padding their margins and talk about how they’ll use them to help him out, and the gun voters ask “but are my guns safe with you?” and the Dems haven’t been running on it, or rural ones assure them “yes” (but will nonetheless vote for a D Speaker of the House/Senate Majority Leader), gun voters remember how liberals get, at unpredicted times in response to unpredictable events, and they don’t feel assured

People doing basic statistics have noticed that mass shootings lead to weaker gun laws and this has trickled down to Vox. Though they seem to be modelling, or at least interpreting the underlying dynamics somewhat differently  https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23142829/uvalde-robb-elementary-mass-shooting-gun-politcal-science

I remember hearing that gun-related state legislation increased in the wake of high-profile shootings but the surplus is entirely accounted for by conservative legislatures loosening regulation or enacting pro-gun measures, which is what you would expect if the event and moreover the Discourse aftermath raises the salience of gun control as an issue but pro-control forces aren’t in as strong a position to act