In all candor, I don't think the Left sees this as the death of the gun control issue at all. Once they have total power, they'll force gun control on the rest of us. They won't give a damn about the "will of the people" - they never do when it runs counter to their agenda.
The only thing keeping Democrats from ramming gun control down our throats when they're in power was the fear of consequences at the ballot box. If they're flush with power and convinced they have national elections fixed for the next few political cycles, they'll take the hit.
As with Obamacare, the Dems are willing to risk short-term losses for long-term social engineering gains. (Unlike Republicans, who often come away from terms in power with nothing substantial to show for it, nothing to build on, nothing that can't be reversed by the Dems later.)
Gun control will, sooner or later, become a social engineering step the Left MUST take. It's an important step along the road to redefining citizenship and the power of the the State. The 2nd Amendment enshrines ideas of individual liberty and responsibility that MUST go.
Don't think for a minute that "defund the police" means the Left has given up on its goal of making citizens utterly dependent on the almighty State for their security. The State will still have a monopoly on deadly force and plenty of agencies to exercise it with.
One reason "defund the police" is so absurd is that every federal agency has armed paramilitary strike forces. Remember when Gibson Guitars was raided by a SWAT team for supposedly using illegal wood? The Left wants to defund and disarm YOUR protection, not THEIR enforcers.
So they haven't given up on gun control AT ALL, no matter how many people are running out and buying guns right now. The immense cost and difficulty of enforcing laws is a PLUS when the Left wants to get something done. It creates more opportunities for gov't spending and power.
That's why they're gung-ho for stuff like transsexual rights. It's one reason they went all-in for gay marriage. Forcing the majority to change how it lives to accommodate the demands of a tiny minority is socialism's wet dream. It's the steep stairway they climb to reach utopia.
Once they feel they have the political strength to survive doing it, even with some losses in the next midterm, they'll go for gun control and absolutely revel in the joy of forcing the majority to its knees with raw government power. It will be a media and corporate blitzkrieg.
The same machinery currently pushing BLM ideology will be easily repurposed for the gun control blitz. The Left will blame all violence caused by its own idiotic policies on the Demon Gun, just like they're using black deaths in their hellhole cities to get what they want today.
You people out in the heartland with your guns will be blamed for urban violence and mass shootings with renewed passion, pumping new gas into decades-old political narratives - just like they're blaming you for killer cops and the coronavirus today.
Your email inbox will overflow with messages from corporations supporting the new push for Common Sense Gun Confiscation. Social media companies will ban anyone who objects to the crusade. Gun manufacturers will be assaulted by the Corporate Left in every way possible.
Every negative crime stat will be twisted into an indictment of the people buying guns right now. A narrative will be forged that the gun buying spree of 2020 caused the gun deaths of 2021. Dem mayors and govs will do all they can to MAKE THINGS WORSE so it can be blamed on YOU.
The urgent need to get the guns of 2020 off the streets of 2021 will be cited as the justification for draconian new gun laws. There will be mass protests in the streets. Suggesting that Defund the Police contributed in any way to increased crime will be treated as a hate crime.
Bottom line: don't make the mistake of thinking the Left will abandon any part of its agenda because the public seems to be rejecting it, especially when voting with their wallets. Votes made with dollars can be overruled with power. The public can be re-educated or subdued. /end
Addendum: we laugh at people who say controlling illegal immigration or Antifa riots is impossible but they can confiscate millions of guns. They don't think it's funny at all. They know hard-working middle class Americans with families are easy to control and punish.
