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‘Peril’: GOP believes Democrats risk Rust Belt wipeout over gun control

By David M. Drucker
Published August 6, 2019 4:20pm ET
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‘Peril’: GOP believes Democrats risk Rust Belt wipeout over gun control
Gun World salesman Alfred Ozga, right, talks with a customer at the sparse display of handguns available at the store on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 in Harrisville, Pa. President Barack Obama urged Congress Wednesday to require background checks for all gun sales and ban military-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, contentious measures aimed at curbing gun violence in America. Ozga said he didn't think the ban on assault guns would work and that although the idea of a universal background check appears to be a good idea, he would not support it, seeing that as another infringement on constitutional rights. | (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Democratic ambitions to restrict access to firearms following deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, could cost the party support in critical 2020 battlegrounds and boost President Trump to a second term, Republican strategists predict.

Democratic efforts to limit gun rights could repel culturally conservative firearms owners who vote in high numbers and helped deliver key Rust Belt states to Trump in 2016 after years of loyalty to the Democratic Party.

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2020 Elections Democratic Party Gun Control Gun Violence Republican Party