When President Bill Clinton asked House Democrats to pass an assault weapons ban in 1994, their leaders begged him to back off, fearing the vote would cost them their seats. They were right. Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years, blamed the assault weapons ban and let it expire. They have struggled ever since to figure out a winning gun safety message.
Now comes Vice President Kamala Harris, who is talking about guns in a new way for a Democrat — by co-opting the language of Republicans. …
Advocates of gun safety legislation say the vice president has leaned into the issue like few presidential candidates before her. Democrats hope her message will appeal to a constituency that is critical to winning the election: moderate, undecided voters in swing states — especially suburban women, who are deeply concerned about school shootings.
“It won’t get the right-wing male Trump voter,” who makes voting decisions based on the endorsements of the National Rifle Association, said the Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “But I think the freedom narrative is going to bring over a lot of people like the Michigan hunter — and his wife may hunt too — who doesn’t believe you need an AR-15 to hunt a deer.”
That narrative fits into the campaign’s broader theme of freedom, which Ms. Harris articulated during her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.
“In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake,” she said then, ticking off examples that included “the freedom to love who you love”; “to breathe clean air and drink clean water”; and “the freedom to vote.” At the top of the list was the “freedom to live safe from gun violence.” …
In some ways, Ms. Harris is simply reclaiming language that Democrats used long ago. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of the four freedoms: “the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear.”
— Sheryl Gay Stolberg in In Talking About ‘Freedom,’ Harris Hopes She Has a Winning Message on Guns
“who doesn’t believe you need an AR-15 to hunt a deer.””
They’ll never accept the difference between “needs” and “rights”.