Russia certainly was hoping for a weak-on-Russia Trump to win the election, but just as important to their aims is to create discord in American domestic politics. If a country is entirely preoccupied with issues and perceived enemies at home, they won't have the focus or political willpower to interfere with Russian plans on an international stage.
* Ukraine should be annexed by Russia..
* The United Kingdom should be cut off from Europe.
* Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics
[2] https://www2.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/demokratizatsiya%...
Like you said, sowing political discord in general over hot-button issues is a benefit.
But if they're really trying to tip the scales in favor of the pro-gun lobby then that makes sense too. Riling up the pro-gun voters is a way of meddling in the 2018 elections with a pro-Republican/Trump bias that we already saw in 2016.
In addition, it's conceivable that Russia believes that more permissive gun laws will help destabilize America.
They want you to be at each others throats. Same reason they assisted brexit.
See, it can take a long time before a fire erupts from a natural cause but if you are aiming for it the outcome is pretty much guaranteed.
Everyone is throwing matches, at the same time, into an already burning dumpster fire.
But the fact remains that whether you are an outside instigator looking to sow discord, a citizen participating in a political flamewar, a politician looking to whip up their base, or the mass media looking for clicks, the tactics are exactly the same. You could wrap a bubble around the United States and cutoff all outside communication and you would not see much difference.
If anything pours gasoline on this fire it is the detachment of social interactions on the internet. And that Twitter is such a hotbed of political "discussion" is a sad testament to the times, considering its very design precludes the possibility of respectful, informed discourse.
Tommy: "Why do you fuck with people when it serves no purpose?"
Tatiana Petrovna: "In Russia, because we were bored. In England, because we don't know how to stop."
Knowing a group of Russians (and calling them friends), this quote seemed so apt.
-- https://www.texastribune.org/2017/11/01/russian-facebook-pag...
So while there is certainly back-and-forth here, I can’t see any moral issues with anyone meddling in Russian elections. It’s likely even necessary if the current regime is to be changed (which I think will be harder than in 1990).
The US obviously also meddle with more or less acceptable means in countries that do have free and fair elections but that’s a different topic.
But gun laws? What's the reasoning behind that? It doesn't add up. On the contrary, it would rather seem like some group in the US (Say a large gun rights organization of some form) would buy these services from the russians. The Russian twitter troll factories don't work for free, and in this case there doesn't seem to be a reason why Russia would pay for this?
Edit: another poster pointed out: there is one thing russia would gain from and that's political division and instability. Next up: pay someone to have a very public and very late abortion, for example.