Prediction: Assuming Hillary Clinton wins in November...

[derby378]

...unless she softens her position on gun control legislation (which is darned near impossible at this point), she could wind up with a Democratic Senate, but she'll still be stuck with a Republican House.

That said, the Brady Campaign is all in for Hillary, and we've seen Gabby Giffords endorsing her as well. The DLC/Third Way bunch generally support her stance on gun laws as well.

But unless the Supreme Court overturns DC v. Heller (also darned near impossible), she'll need both the House and the Senate to pass sweeping gun control laws. And that's probably not going to happen.

So she needs to start planning for this outcome by working for incremental tweaks here and there that respect Second Amendment rights while still promoting public safety. Obama is taking this route already, but she may have a few new ideas.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Start small, maybe outlaw bayonet lugs. nt

[derby378]

2. Probably not gonna happen

Any attempt to sneak in a new "assault weapon" ban piece by piece will likely fail on the House floor.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

3. Did you know that...

(answering Just A Bozo)

...years ago Civil War reenactors were filing off the front sights from their muzzleloaders if the reenactment was in New Jersey, for that very reason?

(Bayonet hooked onto the front sight)

Not sure if they still do that.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I hope those muzzle-loaders were just modern reproductions.

I'd hate to see museum-pieces being altered.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

5. Of course...

...they were.

But not cheap, either!

[theatre goon]

6. Personally, I don't expect much more than occasional talking points...

...about gun control, whether it is floating the idea of a new "assault weapon ban," or some version of universal background checks -- with no real followup to it beyond talking about it.

I believe that Hillary is smart enough to have learned from what happened to Bill when he helped usher through the first so-called assault weapons ban -- huge Democratic losses (even though it is an article of faith that the subsequent losses were because of any other reason, any other reason at all). Bill knows it was a mistake, he even admitted to it -- I think she'll learn from his mistakes.

[Eleanors38]

7. Agreed. For all the "down-ballot" accusations, the DNC has given up on the House...

...preferring to gain temporal, localized advantage by bawling about gun bans. They have neither the desire nor the belly for a protracted campaign to regain strong Democratic Party presence in the House.

[Lurks Often]

8. The chances of anything passing through Congress are pretty damn slim

The House isn't going to give in on anything without major concessions from the Clinton White House, for example to get Federal background checks at the state level, the House is going to want nationwide CCW reciprocity, the removal of silencers from the NFA, etc. And if something does pass, expect court challenges from both sides.

Keep in mind that even if the Democrats regain control of the Senate, that doesn't mean there will be votes there for more gun control.

[TeddyR]

9. I don't think Hills is serious

About a single piece of gun control legislation she has mentioned. She'll probably try to get PLCAA repealed after she's spent so much time beating Bernie over the head with it but that's about it. And let's not pretend Heller is some new impediment - Dems never got anything done on gun control pre-Heller and they won't post, even if it goes away

[Puha Ekapi]

10. Hillary's position on gun control

is nothing more than pandering to a portion of her constituency. They are talking points for political advantage. She's too savvy to push the issue too far, and I think she is realistic enough to understand that going to far would hit her and the Democratic Party in a very negative way.

[madville]

11. There won't be enough Congressional

Support for any big changes. She could make some small executive order tweaks that don't do much.

They probably already figure she'll never see a Democraitic House from 2016-2020 so pushing the issue will just guarantee bigger Republican gains in the 2018 midterms. They probably already expect the Republicans to retain or regain the Senate in 2018 anyway if Hillary is President so that will factor in as well.

[thereismore]

12. Incremental tweaks. That's all we can expect. And a lot

of proud rhetoric.