Very strange that the horrific massacre of kindergarteners in Newtown didn’t convince him to crack down on gun rights when he was preparing to run for the Republican nomination in 2016, yet now that he’s eyeing a run as a centrist independent, the horrific massacre of high-schoolers in Parkland has convinced him that enough’s enough.

Watching Kasich try to prove, futilely, to Democratic voters that he’s suddenly abandoned 35 years of Republican policies in hopes of winning some of their votes will be one of the great guilty pleasures of the next presidential cycle.

A pro-Second Amendment section of John Kasich’s website was removed Sunday, after the Republican governor appeared on CNN and said reasonable gun control measures should be enacted following last week’s deadly Florida school shooting.

JohnKasich.com, his political website that is separate from his governor’s site, had previously contained text and photos illustrating how he opposed former President Barack Obama’s gun control efforts and championing Ohio bills that he said removed burdensome restrictions for gun owners, according to screen shots captured by Ohio public radio journalist Karen Kasler…

Since becoming governor in 2011, he signed six pro-gun rights measures. Some of those bills were a combination of several measures that had been rolled into one during the legislative process. The laws he signed allowed guns in bars and restaurants, reduced the hours of training required for a concealed handgun license, enabled hunters to use noise suppressors and shielded from public and media access lists of concealed handgun licensees.

He does have a little gun-control cred, having voted for the assault-weapons ban as a congressman in 1994, but we all know what this is about. His chief strategist, John Weaver, made it plain today on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JWGOP/status/965334096472715264

His views have evolved. He’s a kinder, gentler, more moderate Kasich, never mind him rubber-stamping gun-rights bills as governor for the past seven years. Which raises the question: Who’ll be the next major Republican convert on gun control? Will it be POTUS himself? His favorite TV show seemed pretty chill this morning about including more information in federal background checks. How about Little Marco? Is he ready to go full RINO again?

It’s called gun-violence restraining order & can be crafted to respect 2nd Amendment & right to due process #Sayfie https://t.co/TtzrVmu1h1

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 18, 2018

Nah, I’m just teasing. I wrote about GVROs yesterday. They’re not really a gun-control measure, they’re a mental-illness measure. Instead of trying to deny guns to broad sections of the population, a GVRO would let someone’s family petition the court to temporarily block them from buying a gun if they pose a threat to themselves or others. It’s a reasonable compromise in the name of keeping guns in the hands of responsible people and out of the hands of less responsible ones. The worry, as always, is what that legislation might lead to. How long before the state would seek to impose GVROs on people it deems “troubled” without any family participation?

By the way, an interesting graph from Nate Silver:

So far, Parkland is *not* fading from the news the way that mass shootings usually do. (The graph shows Google searches for the term "gun control".) The students speaking out makes a pretty big difference. pic.twitter.com/8IcJuJ6yTS

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 18, 2018

Absolutely. It’s verrrrrry savvy of gun-control activists to have kids from Stoneman Douglas on TV a bunch in the last few days and to have them out in front of a march in Washington being organized for next month. No matter how aggressive their rhetoric gets — “you’re either with us or against us” — their tender age and the public’s natural sympathy for the nightmare they’ve been through makes it impossible to push back aggressively. I’m curious to know which lefty groups are quietly coordinating the march and their media appearances. The rhetoric remains nominally nonpartisan but it’s not hard to read between the lines:

“We’ve sat around too long being inactive in our political climate, and as a result, children have died,” Hogg said. “If our elected officials are not willing to stand up and say, ‘I’m not going to continue to take money from the NRA because children are dying,’ they shouldn’t be in office and they won’t be in office because this is a midterm year and this is the change that we need.”…

Kasky went so far as to say he and his classmates wanted to stigmatize politicians who take campaign contributions from the NRA.

“This isn’t about the GOP. This isn’t about the Democrats,” he said. “This is about us creating a badge of shame for any politicians who are accepting money from the NRA and using us as collateral.”

Their ages aren’t listed but Kasky is just a junior. It’s interesting how people who aren’t old enough to vote are focused on the midterms, huh? Or should I say: Not old enough to vote yet.

Here’s one of the kids calling the NRA and, presumably, its many millions of supporters “child murderers.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg to politicians who receive NRA donations: “If you can’t get elected without taking money from child murderers, why are you running?” (via CNN) pic.twitter.com/qcdlcpcEfV

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 19, 2018