To ask the questions is to answer them.
Frankly, I don’t believe most mainstream Democrats who own guns have given them up. However, publicly, I do think many have bought into the “common sense gun laws” fraud. But, again, why is a supposedly civil-liberties-supporting liberal party endorsing the abridging of an important civil right? A right enumerated in the Bill of Rights as valid as the right to free speech and religion.
Why are gun rights no longer seen as also a liberal issue except for a very few sane liberals? For example, the Liberal Gun Club understands the importance of the Second Amendment. Shouldn’t self-defense and firearms be viewed like travel and cars? You can defend yourself without a gun, but other means are not nearly as effective, especially against an armed assailant. Just as you can travel without a motor vehicle, but it’s normally much more efficient than walking.
Don’t people on the left want the right to effectively protect themselves and their loved ones? I understand the left’s obsession with wrangling votes by giving away free stuff. But where in this agenda does gun control fit with a truly liberal agenda? They’re not giving you anything; they’re only taking something away—your rights.
If the left truly cared about people, wouldn’t they want folks, often minorities who live in dangerous neighborhoods, to have the means to protect themselves? Many post-Civil War Democrats worked hard to keep black Americans unarmed. Have Democrats returned to their racist roots, abandoned their commitment to civil rights for all? It seems the true liberal Democrats are gone—or have been silenced by the neo-leftist bullies. The anti-gun, anti-free speech leftist radicals have taken over the Democratic Party. So, why is gun control instead of gun rights a leftist issue? Power. And what does power give them? Control.
– Steve Pomper in Why Have Civil Liberties-Loving Liberals Become Anti-Gun and Anti-Free Speech?