There's an interesting discussion going on and a california gun owner's mailing list I'm on. It started off rather typically with some right leaning contributor complaining about how "liberals=fascists" and how they are trying to take peoples guns away. A few people chimed in and there's some stereotypes that are obviously incorrect but also some insight into some peoples priorities. Here's the things being discussed at this point: Democrats / Liberals do not hate guns. Some Politicians would like people to think that, but it's not the case - in face even some very vocal anti-gun democrats actually carry CCW licenses so there's some misinformation being spread around. Many Republicans / conservatives disagree with a lot of the typical republican / conservative viewpoints but would rather vote for someone who isn't going to impose any additional gun control rather than someone who they agree more with but might pass another anti-gun law. Some Dems are thinking of reregistering as Reps for that very reason. Some reps are thinking of going Dem because they are sick of the right wing stance the party is taking and also are realizing that not all dems hate guns. Here's some comments (I'm deleating the names because I don't have their permission to post) from the list:

As a current Democrat and a former anti-gunner, I wonder about something:  Could we gain traction by simply convincing more practically-minded Democrats that the mania for gun control has A) Failed to produce any positive results in terms of crime, and B) alienated huge swaths of the population?  We don't have to make them all gunnies, but we can convince them that they simply shouldn't pursue this.

followed by:

As a registered Republican who mostly votes Libertarian, I strongly agree.  Not all supporters of the 2nd Amendment also agree with the Christian Coalition.  We dilute and often destroy our message when we link our position on gun control with other unrelated issues on which we do not agree.

And then:

I have been active in RLC but am getting disgusted with some of the extreme lifestyle-Nazis that a lot of members support.  Until now I've supported Tom McClintock (state senator and possible Governor candidate) for his fiscal views, but I just got a mailing from him on Christianity/ sex issues that was so offensive I'm reconsidering any support for him.

Yes, there is a place for gradualism and the RLC, but if we become willing to accept absolutely anything as being "a small step toward liberty", the RLC stops being a way for libertarians to co-opt (or change the direction of) the Republican Party and instead becomes away for the RP to co-opt libertarians.  That line has to be drawn somewhere, and we're near that point now.

What's becoming very clear is that gun control / gun freedom isn't a right left issue (no matter how many republicans will tell you otherwise) and people, politicians especially need to understand this. The statistics are very clear - taking guns away from good citizens is bad for society, and only makes honest people less safe.

The conversation then twisted into the Drug War which is a giant mess all by itself.