by Ralph Fascitelli, a member of the gun control group Washington Ceasefire, want Democrats to embrace gun control and make it an issue in this election. He says they are the party of “progressive stands on social issues”. He is upset that the Democrats aren’t saying more about gun control on the campaign trail and in their official platform.
Gun violence, which costs this country as much as a $100 billion annually and is perhaps along with obesity the number one public health issue of our time, was put on mute again.
He goes on to say that the Democrats have taken the wrong message from the 1994 elections which saw the Republicans win the House of Representatives as well as from Al Gore’s loss of his home state of Tennessee in 2000. Fascitelli says embracing gun control isn’t a lost cause. He compares it to Obama’s newly found appreciation for gay marriage as a way to “energize the base”.
Comparing guns to obesity and using specious statistics from the Brady Campaign is no way to make an effective argument. He may get the true believers to agree with him but your average Democratic politician who wants to get elected or re-elected will continue to mumble just enough platitudes to confuse the voters on both sides of the issue.