Ignoring All Evidence, NRA Decides Gun Policy Determined The 2016 Presidential Election

[billh58]

The National Rifle Association is claiming in a post-election message that the gun issue decided the election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump. But all available evidence indicates that voters actually showed a strong preference for gun safety measures and that the election was decided on other grounds. In a November 14 video released on NRATV, NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre claimed “Hillary Clinton made her hatred for the Second Amendment a central issue of this campaign and as a result of that fatal mistake, she’s on permanent political vacation”:

But the NRA’s framing of the election outcome doesn’t make sense, even assuming the election was decided on policy grounds (which it apparently wasn’t). The pro-gun safety presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, received substantially more votes than NRA-endorsed President-elect Donald Trump.

Setting that aside, all available data indicates Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters overwhelmingly supported the types of gun safety measures that Clinton advocated for.

According to polling released just before Election Day, measures including “expanding background checks on gun purchases; barring those convicted of a hate crime from buying a gun; and prohibiting those convicted of stalking or domestic abuse from buying guns” received widespread support among voters polled by Public Policy Polling in Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Center for American Progress noted that the polling shows “anywhere from 80 percent to 93 percent of Democrats in these states support them, along with 58 percent to 86 percent of critical independent voters, and even 64 percent to 80 percent of Republicans.”

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/17/ignoring-all-evidence-nra-decides-gun-policy-determined-2016-presidential-election/214517

But of course the right-wing, NRA-supporting, gun nut crowd among us steadfastly claims that if it weren't for that damned "grabber" part of the Democratic Party platform, Democrats would have won by a landslide. Not true, and remains untrue even after the election.

The entire country (except for the old red necked white men who hoard guns) is in favor of more stringent gun control measures. Yes Wayne and Ted, the tide has turned and there is very little that can change that momentum. And yes, Trump and the Tea Party gundamentalists can take a heavy toll on the progress that has already been made -- but not at the local level, and that is where we are gaining the most ground.