Bush spokesman Ray Sullivan says that he would expect his boss to reauthorize the assault weapons ban but indicates that, as president, Bush would oppose a waiting period for handgun purchases. As for the NRA's legislative priorities, Sullivan says that the campaign has "not contemplated those issues."

But despite all these big choices, when Gore was asked about the matter during the second presidential debate, he seemed to be a man without much of an opinion.

"I hope we can come back to the subject of education," he said, before trying to blur the substantial differences he has with Bush on the issue.

"First of all, let me say that the governor and I agree on some things where this subject is concerned," Gore said. "I will not do anything to affect the rights of hunters or sportsmen. I think that homeowners have to be respected and their right to have a gun if they wish to."

Actually, the gulf between the candidates on guns is larger than perhaps at any other time in American history. But both men are trying to pretend otherwise. For Bush, that's probably smart politics. In Gore's case, it's not so clear.

Gore campaign strategists argue that soft-pedaling gun control is necessary to win a narrow swath of swing voters in largely Midwestern tossup states. A Washington Post story on Friday seemed to back this up, reporting that "gun control is unpopular among many of the swing voters both campaigns are targeting in the final weeks of the campaign, particularly in battleground states -- such as Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- with a sizable bloc of hunters and other gun enthusiasts."

But one executive of a Washington organization concerned with this issue says that Gore is misreading these swing voters. If so, Gore's attempt to portray himself as having little opinion about the issue is not only disingenuous but politically stupid.

Though the executive, who did not wish to be named, agrees that Gore shouldn't be making his positions on guns a major talking point, he thinks that Gore's failure to portray Bush as an extremist on this issue has been a "missed opportunity."

The executive points to the fact that many swing states have rejected the NRA's position on concealed-carry laws, which allow individuals to carry loaded, concealed weapons in public. One of the first bills Bush signed into law as governor of Texas was a concealed-carry law. Bush went so far as to amend the law, the first of its kind in Texas in 125 years, to let licensees carry their loaded guns into churches, amusement parks and nursing homes.

This mindset, the executive argues, is foreign to the swing voters Bush and Gore are fighting for.

Gun law battles in key swing states attest to that idea. Despite NRA lobbying, there are no concealed-carry laws in Wisconsin, Ohio or Illinois. Recent attempts to weaken the requirements for concealed-carry licensees in Minnesota and Michigan have gone nowhere. A 1998 referendum on closing the "gun show loophole" in Florida passed with 72 percent support.

Last year in the bellwether state of Missouri, gun law advocates such as Handgun Control Inc. were outspent by the NRA more than 4-to-1 in a concealed-carry battle. Nevertheless, the NRA position, opposed by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, lost.