This hasn't been my experience fwiw as someone who moved from a non-gun country to the US. To be honest where I live (Montana) guns really aren't a problem. At least not the kind of problem that makes it a win to require Democrat candidates to support additional gun control measures. I think it's not unrealistic to imagine that we could completely dispense with the crazy Republicans if only democrats would drop gun control, it's such a wedge issue. Imagine that: Trump would never have happened, in exchange for not pursuing gun laws that probably wouldn't have achieved anything.