Guns, Guns, Guns
Apr 22, 2002

In May, 2000, the Million Mom March drew a crowd of several hundred thousand to Washington's Mall. The marchers came to express their support for gun control. Coverage bordered on the reverential.

One of the purposes of the MMM was to put gun control on the national agenda. The timing came as no coincidence. That summer the parties held their nominating conventions. The election occurred in the fall.

A funny thing happened between the Million Mom March and Election Day: Guns fell off the political radar screen. Even Al Gore declined to press the issue. His campaign tried to mute liberalism's hostility to legal guns and the owners of firearms.

Nevertheless, the Democratic Party's perceived enthusiasm for gun control probably cost Gore the election. Guns explain why he lost his home state of Tennessee as well as West Virginia and Arkansas. If Gore had won just one of those three, he would not have needed Florida's electoral votes. And although Gore carried Michigan and Pennsylvania, the gun issue transformed states Democrats ought to have taken for granted into competitive venues.

Last year in Virginia, Mark Warner cultivated the pro-gun vote. Although the NRA gave higher marks to Mark Earley, the so-called gun lobby did not fire broadsides at the Democrat. The perception was that Warner was acceptable. Warner won the Ninth District, where hunters outnumber espresso sippers. National Democrats cite Warner's win as a model.

Two years ago the Million Mom March fatally wounded the Democratic Party. If organizers were to schedule a repeat for 2004, serious presidential contenders likely would ask the moms to stay home.