As with "Shipping Jobs Overseas", gun control is one of the few opportunities for a generally left-leaning coalition to launch hard-hitting attack ads. While the NRA furthers its decent into self-parody, the Campaign to Stop Gun Violence can run ads that basically claim Congressman X wants to see schoolchildren die. As with all effective attack ads, it combines a bastardized form of the policy argument with gut-wrenching emotional stuff
While the Assault-Weapons Ban may be one of the least effective of Obama's proposals, it seems to be the one with the most salience in the public consciousness. Most people don't like the "black guns" that are the targets of the AWB. They constitute around 1-2% of the stock of American firearms, though a higher percentage of sales. It's still not clear how poorly the banning of specific guns will play in places where Democrats have some modest hope of competing for House seats in 2013, but the general issue of "gun violence" is something that favors the Blue Team in a way that's something beyond technocratic discussions of education & health care reform.
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