pushes away even other liberals, not to mention moderates. Huge portion of my social network consists of immigrant and 2nd generation Asian Americans in the California Bay Area. They hear and see stories of repeat offenders free on the streets while anti-Asian crime in on the rise, and this is a region with dogshit gun laws where it pretty much impossible to legally conceal carry as well. Even fairly liberal-minded folks are starting to question exactly how liberal they should be voting (e.g., different sheriffs mean potentially different concealed carry possibilities).

Stores and pharmacies are closing down or moving out, and people are having their cars vandalized because of rampant theft. Proposition 47 meant theft under $950 and other drug-related offenses that would normally be felonies would be misdemeanors instead. Sounds somewhat reasonable because we don't want extremely harsh sentencing and punishment, right? Well, DAs don't bother to prosecute misdemeanors, and theft is now out of control because lots of shitty people now don't have to worry much about consequences.

And for what it's worth, I am considered solidly liberal in most regards, but I think the Democrats' stances on guns are absolutely stupid. In fact, I would argue that my position on gun rights are actually the ones that are liberal (not Democrat) and factor in the intersection of things like race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and so on. I don't think the federal government or states should be creating various laws and policies that make gun ownership more prohibitive from both a time and cost standpoint (just like voting rights). In my state, there are people that have been waiting over a year after their applications to buy a gun or conceal carry. This delay in them exercising their right is unconstitutional.

Who is affected by these gun laws the most? It's usually poor people, which ultimately disproportionately affects people of color. They can't afford guns and ammo, and if they can barely do that, they can't afford to properly train for their own safety handling the gun or in the worst case scenario use it for self-defense. Democrats' fear mongering about guns also makes lots of women fearful about guns, even though they are vulnerable to being victims of violent and sexual crime committed by men. Sexual minorities? They could also greatly benefit from exercising their rights in order to defend themselves from being victims. And let me just make it clear that I'm not some crazy person who is ultra-paranoid and thinks that it's just complete violence our here, nor do think I'm going to carry out some naïve hero fantasy with my guns. In fact, I know that the likelihood of myself ever having to use a gun in self-defense is fairly low, but a low likelihood does not mean I am willing to give up my rights, especially when bullshit like going after "pistol braces" is part of the Democrats' platform on guns that have no actual bearing on stopping gun violence.

When you're on the other side of the argument, you start to see that Democrats can be just as manipulative as the right and Republicans when it comes to language and framing arguments. Things like "weapons of war," "high-capacity magazines," "ghost guns," "gun show loopholes," and other bullshit terms are used to fearmonger but don't address any real issues that need to be worked on. It's mostly just an emotional response of nothing more than "guns are bad" and I don't like that kind of gun because it's a "scary big black rifle," all while ignoring root causes of gun violence and crime. I've found that some of the most vocal anti-gun people are honestly the most ignorant on guns and do nothing more than parrot Democrats' talking points, and it's just basically trying to impose their personal dislike of them on the rest of the population (sounds a lot like what the right and Republicans like to do on various issues).

I'm not going to vote for some crazy nutjob that doesn't believe in science, vaccines, and climate change, that hates various minorities (racial, sexual), is sexist, or that thinks unfettered capitalism is the solution to everything while ignoring structural inequalities just because they support my views on guns, but I'd be lying if I said I don't hate voting against my interests on guns and self-protection. And guess what? You're going to lose some people that are more moderate. They either won't vote or will vote for someone else, whether that be a liberal that supports gun rights (who unfortunately will probably not be popular among Democrats), maybe a Libertarian, or even a conservative/Republican if they see that as their only option to maintain/gain gun rights like Californians that want to be able to legally protect themselves.

And there ARE other people that are similar to me on the political spectrum and on the issue of guns:
Liberal Gun Club: https://theliberalgunclub.com/
Op-Ed from Killer Mike: https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-people-must-embrace-second-amendment-op-ed
Liberal Gun Owners subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/liberalgunowners/

So yeah, keep thinking people like me or moderates are GOP members in hiding, because that's exactly the kind of shit that will fuck up any good Democrats could do on other issues. And if you want a more nuanced view on political beliefs beyond simply liberal vs. conservative, you can see a study by Pew on ideologies and how they can greatly vary within those categories: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/10/24/political-typology-reveals-deep-fissures-on-the-right-and-left/