"as the potential to be the deciding issue of 2016. And it’s Democrats, for a change, who stand to benefit."

"Frontrunner Hillary Clinton is clear she will take a forceful stance against the NRA and those who oppose any gun control."

Good plan.

.........but it sure as hell didn't help! Look at the states that President Obama won and Clinton lost, and where those states are located.

Edited to add a reminder:

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/30/9-ways-hillary-clintons-gun-control-plan-could-cha.aspx

Many of us have been saying that the party is better just leaving guns alone. Every time some candidate tells the electorate that they will advocate for strong gun control the party loses votes. If you don't get elected, you can not pass laws. It really is that simple. Contrary to what some "studies" tell us, there really is not enough support in this country to pass more gun control laws. If there were, the candidates who advocated for the strong laws would be in office. It would be nice if some one in a leadership role would actually listen to what the voters are saying, and ignore the background noise that they are hearing from the choir. Until that day, we will continue to get what we got this time.

OT: glad we're back

It is my opinion that all the gun laws and carefully crafted restrictions in the world will, on their own and at most, reduce overall violence by somewhere between a few and zero percent. After I say things like that, the average anti-gun, pro-control or regulation favoring folk say something like, 'Then why have any laws at all?'

I believe selling weapons to violent criminals is still a bad idea and I accept that background checks are a good idea.

This issue is complicated and won't be solved by those on either side who are just interested in playing political football with it. The side that will make progress (Democrats) is the side that will simplify what they're seeking and untangle the issue from the culture war crap that's been media fodder and little more.

The Party has been out of touch with millions of Americans regarding (quality) job loss, economic insecurity, and shaky futures, so it stands to reason it is quite capable of being out of touch regarding guns. Why there is not someone in leadership who sees the destructive role of Gun Control in the Party's fortunes is a perplexing question, one that I propose should be dealt with NOW.

Plus that is likely an underestimate.

Gun owners are known to show up at the polls to vote against candidates who advocate gun bans, restrictions on the amount of rounds a magazine can hold and federal registration of firearms. Many gun owners have a considerable amount of money invested in their collection of firearms and when you have money in the game you don't want to lose it.

Strong control is far more popular in many of the nation's big cities than in the rural areas. Coupled with other factors the gun owner vote may have helped Hillary lose the election in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida as well as many smaller states. For example Florida has well over 1,000,000 residents with concealed carry permits. Pennsylvania has somewhere over 1,000,000 issued licenses (although some may be owned by people who live out of state) and Ohio at least 500.000. It's hard to estimate just how many people in these states own firearms for sporting and home defense.

In my view it might be wise for the Democratic Party to concentrate on enforcing existing laws and improving them to keep guns out of the hands of the criminal element. Forget things like another assault weapons ban as gun owners fear that would be a step toward banning all semiautomatic weapons and eventually all handguns.

Another factor is that many citizens distrust their government and feel that civilian owned firearms allow "patriots" to be able to overthrow it if it were to turn into a oppressive dictatorship. I doubt if that will ever happen but I've talked to a number of gun owners who firmly believe it could.

Some argue that Al Gore lost to Bush the Younger because of the gun owner vote. I'm sure that made a big difference in the Florida vote totals which ended up as the state that determined the election. Like Hillary Gore was for strong gun control.

The gun control issue may well be a ball and chain on the ankle of the Democratic Party.

It is more like a mill stone around the neck. We still have candidates who will jump right in, and sink, because they haven't figured this out. If they would just leave guns alone, they might have a chance at making meaningful reforms on issues that would help everyone, not just please their vocal anti-gun constituents. Some people are just slow learners I guess.

the House and Senate, 33 Republican Governors and in in control of the legislatures of 68 state legislative chambers and while the Democrats control just 31.

Obviously there are far many more factors in play that allowed the Republicans to do so well in recent years but in my opinion the push for gun bans, limits of the number of rounds a magazine can hold and federal gun registration is one of the important one.

Sad.