Jim colahan
mtswDemocrats would be smart to run on this instead of on inscrutable "enhanced background checks and waiting periods" or whatever. "we will ban the AR-15" is a winning message.
Note that it's *already* polling this well despite it being treated by most politicians and the media as an extreme left-wing idea outside the mainstream.
Vote to Save Us All@mtsw This this this.
Kevin Leecaster@mtsw
Democrats that are not in purple districts have been running on banning the AR-15 for a long time and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise imo.
Democrats that are not in purple districts have been running on banning the AR-15 for a long time and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise imo.
ShadSterling@GreenFire @mtsw citation needed; I’ve seen Beto say as much, but no one else
Elon Musk stick@mtsw only in America could “we shouldn’t let every man and his dog have access to as many military grade weapons as they want” be an “extreme left wing idea”
I’ve always said wanting to own an AR-15 should probably be a red flag & automatically preclude you from being allowed to own an AR-15
John Woodward@mtsw @masterdon I agree. The desire to own an assault rifle is evidence of mental illness.
➡ @mtsw I think this probably has more to do with that being a scare word than it does winning policy. Why not ban any model that takes 5.56 ammo? Does ban here mean ban new sales or does it mean define the existing guns as felony possession and go collect them? The winning policy would have to appeal to people in areas that Democrats usually don't win and I'm skeptical this would.
Alchemist@mtsw AR-15 is too narrow. All they have to do is call it something else.
jsled@mtsw This question might poll well, but the strength of that opposition is not fairly reflected. Banning ARs (or "assault weapons") would be political suicide.
Grudgie The Whale
DressToKILT
Arena Cops 🇺🇦✌@mtsw How about "Less guns, more lives", not being confined to semiautomatic assault rifles, which don't belong into civilians' hands, but more generally reducing the overall insane number of guns, exceptionally higher than in any other country of the world?
120.5 firearms per 100 U.S. civilians (*2017* Small Arms Survey).
#SaveLives #GunEpidemic #GunReduction #GunControl #BanTheNRA #BanTheGOP #DeadlyCorruption #Corruption
Jonathan HendryThat would be pointlessly specific though. Gun makers will just change the name/design.
@mtsw oh my god Beto was right
Bill Lamb@mtsw I blame MSM for being fixated on the AR-15 (in its many iterations).
A ban should - and likely will - include all sorts of assault-style weapons.
To many of the unknowledgeable in MSM every military-stile rifle is an AR-15, like every fighter jet is an F-16. 😏
If some bad guy ever uses a Mini-14 or an AK-47 knock-off, these writers would be lost.
onecaliberal@mtsw Yes, that is what President Biden has been saying. Ban them.
Nico Japas@mtsw 38% in favor is still a mind-blowingly high number. Truly a very strange phenomenon to the eyes of non US citizens like me
Don Melton@mtsw This. 💯
ehurtley 
@mtsw Sure, if nationwide popular vote decided the presidency and Congress.
But it doesn't. And Republicans run on fear-mongering, gerrymandering, and vote suppression. All of which mean truly popular ideas don't win elections.
There are people who would support it if not for Republican fear-mongering "immigrants are coming to rape your wife! Arm yourself!" to some groups, and outright blocking other groups (BIPOC) from voting.
@mtsw could not agree more
scotian@mtsw always be triangulating between the median mainstream position and the most extreme and unpopular* one!
(*right-wing positions only)
Southern Leftist@mtsw
Yes!
As someone who resists conservatism, this could be a winning campaign point!
EarthOne@mtsw The neighbor behind us was busy training his teens how to shoot one of those today. Terrifying to sit and count the rapid fire shots because I know they're GOP and Catholics who think they are God's gift to America.
Nicholas Weaver
Garrett Wollman@mtsw This CBS public Poll ought to be posted with the congressional vote for a national ban on the AR-15 rifle.
Chuck@mtsw Yeah, I'm afraid all it would do is drive Republican turnout. Kind of like attacking abortion drove Democrats to the polls.
@mtsw Forget the guns. Regulate ammunition and ammunition making materials as a controlled substance.
DamnKimberlee@mtsw run on the message that our children have a right to survive MAGA.
Skylar Caulfield 
@mtsw part of me feels like gun control is a rough one expressly when your gov actively wants to kill you. I'm also not saying kill cops, what I am saying is gathering up all the trans people and putting them on trains is much harder when they all have guns and know exactly what your doing.
@mtsw democrats should honestly run on fixing the repubican economic failures, and dealing with price gouging. Multiple companies like Walmart, and Kroger have gotten record profits, while raising prices higher than ever.
Drew Blake@mtsw sure, but what’s the distribution across districts? And what about the other rifles with the same profile as the AR-15v
Reay Jespersen@mtsw Sincere question: If the AR-15 is banned, wouldn’t some other make and model just become the go-to favourite for mass shootings?
I’m not against that ban, but doing it is dealing with a symptom and not a cause.
Stephen J Kimber@reay
I'd imagine the ban would automatically extend to rifles with similar capacities?
I'd imagine the ban would automatically extend to rifles with similar capacities?
@InkstainedFingers The problem here is you’re applying logic to the issue. And that has no place in the matter of guns in America.
Snark aside, I sincerely believe that lobbyists and lawyers would literally be arguing that just because THIS gun was banned doesn’t mean THAT one (of the same size and magazine capacity and range and killing speed) is banned.
That’s my whole concern: I think this is about banning a gun, not a gun category.
@mtsw
As an Australian I've always been baffled by the American addiction to firearms; the nation has a cultural blindness to the historical context in which that right to bear arms was granted. It's a constitutional right allowed the people in an era when it took a good 1/2 minute to load a musket that wasn't all that accurate. The right to bear arms is outdated; it's been stripped of its validity by technological advances.
As an Australian I've always been baffled by the American addiction to firearms; the nation has a cultural blindness to the historical context in which that right to bear arms was granted. It's a constitutional right allowed the people in an era when it took a good 1/2 minute to load a musket that wasn't all that accurate. The right to bear arms is outdated; it's been stripped of its validity by technological advances.
@mtsw
PS. I agree with the notion that running with a simple ban on AR-15s is a good thing to do rather than wade in waters able to be muddied by NRA questioning of motive and exact meaning.
PS. I agree with the notion that running with a simple ban on AR-15s is a good thing to do rather than wade in waters able to be muddied by NRA questioning of motive and exact meaning.
Stoneface Vimes@mtsw maybe run on both. Perhaps that'd be even better still.
Gael E Evans@mtsw How about also banning the AK-47?
lawnerdbarak@mtsw some parts of the country this may need to be marketed as “anyone who needs a second rifle round to down the deer does not deserve venison. Nobody needs a semi auto rifle, just hit center mass the first time you contemptible weakling”
@mtsw imagine being such a shit shot you need a 20 round mag to hunt.
Rich2024@mtsw sounds like a good idea. Will they do it?
@mtsw Democrats have never met a winning message they will not try to convince their base is a losing message.