Committing political suicide all over again?

As if Republicans hadn't already committed political suicide once in the election that just passed, with their religiously-based social agendas and their denial of global warming, just to pick two issues on which they held unpopular positions, now they seem poised to do it all over again on gun control.

The president's initial proposal, to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines (things only needed on the battlefield, or by drug gangs, or for a shooter intent on a massacre), and require registration and background checks for all firearms sales (after all, we require car drivers to register), is a fairly moderate one. It doesn't threaten hunting weapons, and it doesn't threaten handgun ownership. Of course the NRA is absolutely against it, and will pull out all the stops to prevent ANY new restrictions.

But the real question is whether Republican politicians will accede to these reasonable and moderate restrictions, or whether they are so deep in the NRA's pockets that they will once again alienate independent voters by sticking to an indefensible ideological position, bought and paid for by a powerful lobbing group. If they do, they will continue to marginalize their party, which in the long run is not a good thing for the nation.