...a few $? I thought DU was free. I've donated but I've never been charged.

do they care about healthcare, the economy, Gay/Lesbian rights, good government?

also - i've seen very few people arguing for the banning of guns. Most are looking only for ways to bring down the death toll by guns. Should this not be a mutual goal?

In my life I have known a number of gun owners. Many of whom say they will never vote Democratic as long as the party is seen as the party of Gun Control / Prohibition.

In addition the idea arose in the party that the only people that matter are those in the large urban centers. Thus they can demand and have any and all gun laws they want. But the problem is those laws end up affecting the rest of the country, which does NOT live in the big Urban areas, and does not want Gun Control / Prohibition. This has helped drive away those in small town and rural areas.

Too many on the other side think that guns are totally unregulated and there are not federal gun contols. Some actually think you can buy a machine gun at Walmart and buy a pistol online without going to an FFL. Brady et al do their best to keep people misinformed. Truth is, there are five current federal gun control laws. A good way to predict what will happen is what happened in the past. If we look at the history of US or gun laws anyplace else, and their effects on violent crime this is what happens:
Pass law-nothing happens-gun control advocates call for "reasonalbe restrictions" to plug a loophole
"Loophole filled"-nothing happens-call for gun control, implying there is none-continue cycle because nothing happens.
Just look at UK and Jamacia.

Meanwhile, the root cause is ignored. While city folks are blaming inner city shoot outs on deer hunters and "trailer trash rednecks" in Idaho, many of them are the ones contributing to the problem. The problem is not the gun culture. The immediate problem is drug prohibition and the drug culture. That does not ignore the deeper problems like wealth inequality, unequal funding of schools, jobs moving to the suburbs and China, racism, city officials who don't acutally give a shit about the poor because they can't line their pockets.

When talking heads like Thom Hartmann or Randi Rhodes rant about how awful it is when a gun club teaches kids responsible gun ownership and marksmanship, as if that is the problem, while coddling drug culture.

Just messing with ya I grew up in a small town in SE Idaho and most of my friends lived in trailers -- or as they called them "Modular Mobile Homes".

Wish I could convince the wife to leave Florida, wait I'm starting to sound like...................................

I'm a gun owner and competitive shooter, and while I'm not a single issue voter, I care about the gun issue as much as I care about the others.

If you care about abortion rights, would you vote for a candidate who promised to outlaw all abortions after the tenth week and make violations a 10-year Federal felony, if he was good on economic issues? Why or why not?

from others that claim gun owner = racist.

And I think we both know who we're talking about.

Their votes....F those rude baser toters.