Following yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, in which the individual right to bear arms was explicitly upheld in the first ruling on the Second Amendment in 69 years and in a more broad manner than ever before, national Republicans are seeking to make guns an issue again, after finding success against Democrats the last time gun control came up, in 1994.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has far fewer targets to work with this time, though, given both parties' hesitancy to touch what has become yet another third rail in politics. Still, there are some Democrats who Republicans hope can be made vulnerable on the issue.

Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick "Murphy's opposition to the Second Amendment puts himself at odds with not only members of his own party, but the overwhelming majority his Pennsylvania constituents," NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said of the freshman Congressman, pointing out that Murphy and others had not signed an amicus brief backing repeal of the gun ban. The brief, spearheaded by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison, of Texas, and Montana's Jon Tester, a Democrat, garnered signatures from dozens of members from both parties.

Other Democrats who did not sign the brief and were singled out by Republicans include Kansas Rep. Dennis Moore, Iowa Reps. Dave Loebsack and Bruce Braley, Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter and New Hampshire Rep. Carol Shea-Porter.

But the low number of targets speaks to a larger issue: Thanks to just one piece of gun legislation passing in the last dozen years, a measure passed in response to shootings at Virginia Tech and backed by the National Rifle Association, guns are simply not as potent an issue as they once were, as this author argues at Politicker.com. Without a call to arms (pardon the pun), gun rights advocates have nothing to fight against at the moment.

Perhaps, though, the issue could have a rebirth, thanks to controversial comments Barack Obama made at a private fundraiser in San Francisco several weeks ago. An NRA lobbyist mentioned Obama's comments that some rural voters are "bitter" and cling to their guns and religion. That quote, which Obama has had to explain for months on end, does not seem to be going away.