We don’t have any hard numbers to point to, but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that the results of this year’s elections have led to a number of folks on the left side of the political spectrum deciding to pick up a gun; often for the first time in their lives.
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The Liberal Gun Owners reddit, for instance, is full of new and prospective gun owners, many of whom are convinced that fascism has descended on the United States and they must arm up to protect themselves from “right wing nuts”.
I might not like why these folks are embracing their Second Amendment rights, but I’m all in favor of them doing so if it makes them feel safer. It amuses me to no end, however, to see their fellow progressives comfort themselves with the thought that more gun owners on the Left is going to lead to more support for gun control on the Right.
The best part about Black people, women, and LGBTQ people buying guns en masse is that if enough Republicans notice, they’ll finally put stricter gun laws in place. Two birds with one stone 👀 https://t.co/EHn6CVmBVx
— Miles D. Tiziu 🇵🇸🍉 (@miles_tzu) November 7, 2024
This has been a common refrain on the left for at least four years, when gun sales exploded during the COVID closures and George Floyd riots. But even though a growing number of Democrats have embraced their Second Amendment rights, Republicans have yet to change their mind about gun control.
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The right to keep and bear arms is a right of the people; all the people. You don’t have to look like me, vote like me, or think like me for me to support you buying a firearm. Frankly, I think it’s great that more Americans on the left are buying guns. Our Second Amendment rights are more secure when they’re being exercised by folks across the political spectrum, or at least they should be.
There’s no evidence whatsoever for Miles’ assertion that gun-ownership on the Left means that conservatives are going to suddenly become gun-grabbers. Unfortunately, there’s also not much evidence that the growing number of gun-owning lefties is going to lead to less support for gun control by Democrat politicians either.
Yes, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz boasted of their gun ownership on the campaign trail, but they still endorsed every major policy pushed by the gun control lobby; from bans on so-called assault weapons to federal “red flag” laws lacking in basic due process protections. The Democrats’ messaging around guns became more moderate, but their agenda was essentially no different than Joe Biden’s in 2020 or Hillary Clinton’s in 2016.
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Maybe that will change over the next couple of years. If Democrats want to be competitive in rural parts of the country or regain the trust of blue-collar voters, I’d say it’s actually a necessity for them to ditch their anti-2A attitudes. Support for things like community violence intervention programs is one thing. Those typically don’t involve putting new gun control laws in place. Demanding hardware bans or making it harder for the working class to exercise their Second Amendment rights by jacking up the price of guns, ammunition, and concealed carry application fees, on the other hand, are the kind of elitist policies that have made the Democrat brand increasingly toxic to many Americans.
