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Many of these battles will be battles for public opinion
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This is what makes me feel most positive about the poor prospects for more gun control.
The long-term trend in public sentiment has been favorable to the RKBA for the past half century.
- In the 1950s and 1960s, clear majorities of the public polled in favor of totally banning handguns.
- Through the 1990s, clear majorities of the public polled in favor of more or stricter gun control laws.
- Now, the clear majority of the public polls in favor of the status quo or fewer or less restrictive gun control laws.
There is a lot of sound and fury in the media about the struggle between politicians trying to "do good" and the mean ol' NRA blocking their efforts. But the NRA is only the visible tip of the iceberg. The NRA has 4 million members, but a recent GAO report said there are 8 million concealed carry license holders in our country. Think about that - only a fraction of the people who have guns are concealed carry license holders, but that fraction numbers 8 million.
For whatever reasons, the public at large has increasingly decided that the ability to have a gun is good. That strong undercurrent of public sentiment is the strongest guarantee of the RKBA.