The Democratic Party and liberals have it all wrong when it comes to gun control and the narrative around it. The problem with gun violence is a violence problem at its core. And the violence problem is about devaluing human life. Until you address that core issue of devaluing human life as a root cause of violence, including but not limited to gun violence, it will be a persistant problem.
A prime example is the kidnapping and likely assassination plot to attempt on Michigan's governor. A prime example is the excessive force used by police forces to suppress protests. A prime example is the lack of political will to provide health care coverage for all Americans. In each case a lack of value placed on human life is the core issue.
When someone takes up a weapon to kill another human being it isn't the weapon that is dangerous in and of itself, it's the person arming themselves. The reality is guns are an easy method of violence, it is true, but they are hardly the most effective method of mass violence. The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 show a gun is not required to inflict massive casualties and harm. Explosives that can be constructed using basic supplies that are easily avaialble could create much higher body counts for a terrorist. Cars, knives, and other weapons have been used to kill and maim groups of people.
Guns are scary to those who are unfamiliar with them. Especially to those who have seen them misrepresented in Hollywood and TV. But they aren't the root problem. And by focusing on a adjacent problem the liberals and Democrats are alienating otherwise potential allies to thier side. By focusing on guns they are turning away those who value their 2nd amendmant rights above all else as single issue voters. They are allowing the other side to split people into two groups that otherwise would have common ground on many ideas.
Stop focusing on the guns and start focusing on the real issue - the systemic devaluation of human life. The gun control debate is one of the few issues where the Democratic Party is against the prevailing attitudes of the American people. Americans value their right to bear arms by and large and the rural populace often depends on them for any degree of safety when police are tens of minutes away from responding to any threat they may encounter.
The devaluation of human life, however, is entrenched in various parts of our society and economy. A stagnant minimum wage, the deepening divide between the poor the the wealthy, the lack of affordable or available health care - especially mental health care - all contribute to a systemic perception that human life is cheap, replaceable, and not valued. Corporations have human resource departments - as if humans were just another commodity to be used, consumed, and discarded when no longer useful.
We have veterans living on the street with no proper care or assistance in reintegrating into society after sacrificing themselves in service to our country. We have children going to bed hungry or sitting through school with empty bellies and struggling to learn through hunger. We have the mentally ill with no course of treatment or avenue for self-improvement avaialble due to thier financial position - itself often a result of thier illness. These are all symptoms of a system that devalues and diminishes the importance of human life itself.
When exposed to this culture, when raised into it, we create people who place little to no value on human life themselves. Who think little of taking another's life. Who will kill or wound with little thought. If you simply take away a rifle they'll use a handgun. Take away firearms and they'll use knives, vehicles, or explosives. We've seen this in other cultures and societies that have banned or restricted firearms. What they have in common with us is a devaluation of human life.
Finally guns as part of the US culture are here to stay. We will never be rid of them, there are simply too many in private hands to ever disarm the populace. Much of the effort at gun control is tilting at windmills. A wasted effort that turns away those who've made firearms a part of thier identity and embraced ownership as part of thier culture. It's time the liberals and Democrats quit sabotoging thier own efforts to bridge the gap with those people and instead focus on the real issue.
Our focus ought to be on reaffirming the value of human life through our policy and priorities. It's not about the guns, it's about human life.