After Ralph Northam’s lopsided victory in Virginia, it’s time to rethink a long-held political axiom: Democrats lose when they campaign on stronger gun laws.
Conventional wisdom on gun policy holds that despite widespread public support for common-sense gun safety measure, the only people who actually vote on the issue are those who oppose more gun regulations. As a result, Democratic candidates have been cautioned that they should be afraid of rousing the gun lobbying by taking clear stands on gun safety.
But Northam, a former Army doctor who has seen firsthand the damage that guns can inflict, understood that guns are no longer the third rail in Virginia politics. CONT.
Fred Yang & Geoff Garin (Garin-Hart-Yang Research), Washington Post