A very interesting look at the power of the NRA as a political entity.

[flamin lib]

http://www.thetrace.org/2015/10/nra-democrats-clinton-2016-swing-states/

Now That the Democrats Have Thrown Rocks at the NRA, How Hard Can the NRA Hit Back?

In 2013 the NRA dumped a lot of money into Virginia but:

When the final tallies where in, the NRA’s Republican allies had lost not only the governor’s seat, but also the Lieutenant governorship and attorney generals office, the latter two offices going Democratic for the first time since 2001 and 1994, respectively. Governor Terry McAuliffe, Attorney General Mark Herring, and Lieutenant Governor Ralph Notham all ran on gun reform and lived to write about it in a Washington Post editorial: The NRA couldn’t muster enough voters for an effective pro-gun backlash.

“It’s very possible that the NRA’s ability to gin up even more voter turnout among gun owners or those who react negatively to gun control has reached a ceiling,” Geoffrey Skelley, of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, tells The Trace. In his state, that’s due to some long term population changes

The state, as has most of America, grown more urban and minority. Florida, another prize swing state, is edging toward a minority majority (does that make sense? probably not but you know what I mean) and Hispanics there are 3/5 Democratic voters as the older more conservative population is replaced by younger voters. Hispanics vote gun control on a 2:1 ratio and own guns at less than half the rate of old white guys.

Add in the fact that only 32% of households admit to owning guns and I suspect only a third of them vote solely on gun issues and the supposed power of the NRA and other gun groups looks pretty thin.

With a primary field of Democrats solidly behind some form of gun control and the President himself saying we need to make gun control a single issue vote I think there is a solid chance that change may come.

[mwrguy]

1. Gun control can be a winning issue now

Hillary is wise to grab onto it.