At Least Politicians Are Telling Us What They Really Think

Here’s what the 2020 front-runners really think about guns…

The good thing about social media is it allows people to air their opinions publicly and immediately with no filter. The bad thing about social media is that it allows people to air their opinions publicly and immediately with no filter.

Traditionally, politicians’ statements have been painstakingly massaged, filtered and spun until just the right phraseology, verified through polling data, is released to the public. Thanks to social media, candidates now can vent streams of consciousness without all that overhead. The direct nature of social-media communication gives voters unprecedented insight into what candidates actually think.

Now that a presidential election is on the horizon, a score of Democratic candidates are vying for Air Force One passes and giving us a sea change in messaging. Long gone are the days when a pandering politician dropped by the local Walmart to buy blaze orange for a photo-op pheasant hunt. The vote tabulation calculus has changed. While primaries are notorious for swinging far left or right of general election positioning, this one is characterized by candidates desperately trying to outflank each other to the left on gun issues. Even those with historically tepid public positions on gun control are saying some outrageous things.

Read the rest: America’s 1st Freedom | At Least Politicians Are Telling Us What They Really Think