When it comes to gun rights, there is a mix of politician stances.
(a) ardent gun control supporter - there are a lot of these. Just about any national politician from a big city (Chicago, New York, LA, etc) constituency will fall in this camp.
(b) wish the issue would go away - these guys don't want the media to blame them for the next mass shooting, but they don't want to alienate gun owners either.
(c) committed to RKBA and really understand it - there are very few of these folks, and the higher up the political ladder you go the more rare they get.
Realistically we are never going to get an entire government full of (c)'s. There just aren't that many out there, and there are too many liberal city constituencies where a (c) simply cannot get elected.
The most effective strategies as I see them are:
1) Support the (c)'s as strongly as possible. Let them know we are behind them. Make sure they always have a well funded campaign.
2) Keep the pressure on the (b)'s. Always let them know that there will be a HUGE backlash if they get swept up into supporting some ludicrous gun control law, or vetoing any law that supports gun rights (I think this is pretty much what we've got right now working with Mitch).
3) Try to defeat the (a)'s anywhere, anytime you can.
If we have a government with 20% strong antis, 75% wiffle-wafflers who haven't heard from the gun nuts this month, and 5% RKBA-ers, the antis are going to get everything they want.
If we can tip that to 10% strong antis, 80% wiffle-wafflers whose email and voice mail are ALWAYS jammed with pro-RKBA messages, and 10% strong RKBA supporters, then we will get our way.
