Ask Democratic leaders why they have been reluctant until recently to make gun control a core issue, and the conversation eventually leads to 1994.
That year, Democrats lost control of the House for the first time since the early 1950s, just eight weeks after President Bill Clinton signed a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. That ban came nearly a year after Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, better known as the Brady Bill, which imposed background checks on gun purchasers. The National Rifle Association claimed credit for the Democratic wipeout, and its allies — still, 24 years later — invoke “#1994” as a warning to anyone who thinks about advancing gun-control measures.
But as a Clinton administration official who helped lead our efforts to win passage of these two measures a generation ago, I have always been skeptical of the idea that the Democrats’ support for popular and common-sense gun restrictions were the critical element of the 1994 election losses. CONT.
Ronald A. Klain, Washington Post