A Swing to the Middle on Gun Control

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, NY Times Week in Review

As Al Gore's campaign spokesman in 2000, Doug Hattaway watched as the National Rifle Association successfully painted his candidate as one who would take Americans' guns away. Mr. Gore lost in states like Tennessee and West Virginia, where hunting is popular, and Democrats have been ducking gun control ever since.

Today, as a consultant to Americans for Gun Safety, a group advocating restrictions on gun ownership, Mr. Hattaway has urged Democrats to embrace the gun issue with "a moderate rights and responsibilities" message. "Silence on guns is not golden," Mr. Hattaway says, and when John Kerry arrived in the Senate last week to vote on a gun bill, the advice appeared to be catching on. On the Senate floor, Mr. Kerry declared his support for extending the assault weapons ban and requiring background checks on gun owners. "I believe in the right to bear arms," he said. But, he added, "I also believe that with our rights come fundamental, common-sense responsibilities."

What followed came as a surprise. The Senate, defying the N.R.A., voted for the weapons ban and background checks, tacking them onto a bill to grant gun makers immunity from civil lawsuits. Then the rifle association, having lost on those measures, withdrew its support for the immunity bill. The Senate promptly killed it - a powerful demonstration of the N.R.A.'s strength. Even so, the political landscape had clearly shifted. Gun control, like abortion, fires up conservatives and liberals, but a middle ground was also reflected in last week's vote. Police chiefs and sheriffs lobbied for the assault weapons ban, which has broad public support. The Democratic pollster Mark Penn, who also consults for Americans for Gun Safety, found that 66 percent of gun owners support renewing the weapons ban, which expires in September.

The issue also resonates with swing voters. As a Republican pollster, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "Soccer moms aren't sitting there saying, 'We need to allow assault weapons." ' That is why a growing number of Republicans, including President Bush, back the assault weapons ban and background checks, making it easier for Democrats like Mr. Kerry to speak out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/weekinreview/07stol.html