The recent change in thinking in the hive mind that is public opinion concerning gun control is being welcomed with open arms by Republicans.

Some are hailing it as the tide returning from the high water mark that gun control hit during the Clinton era with the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act — most commonly referred to as “The Assault Weapons Ban.”

As a Libertarian, I’m not too enthusiastic with the sudden change. Instead, I’m wary that it is something fleeting.

The writing on the wall pointing to the definite rise of guns, ironically enough, is coming from the Brady Campaign, an organization notorious as being a juggernaut of the pro-gun control movement. The organization has been raising hairs on the back of gun owners’ necks since President Clinton passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993.

The Brady Campaign is literally withering on the vine.

Rob Reed at examiner.com said, “So far, for the 2010 election cycle, only one donor has made a single contribution of $2,500,” compared to “an all-time high of more than $1.7 million in the 2000 election cycle.”

The $2,500 shows a stark contrast in the political landscape then and now.

I’m not that thrilled about the recent mood swing that puts public opinion in gun owners’ favor. I’d rather see a more gradual acceptance of firearms, something smaller that could be sustained long-term. The pendulum has come back in our favor too quickly, and far too suddenly, and it is bound to come back to bite us very shortly.

Some hear victory in the dying gasps of the Brady Campaign, and rejoice the fall of a once powerful opponent of the Second Amendment. I can’t help but think of what might rise in its place when the pendulum swings back toward gun control.

The public’s opinion didn’t change because people started understanding the politically charged debate that goes on between those that own firearms and those that call for their strict regulation. I figure they simply don’t care as much anymore.

But just because the public has lost interest, doesn’t mean that all of that negative thinking that was leveled at firearms won’t come rushing right back tenfold. In fact, I expect it to. All it will take is another Columbine, another beloved figure being felled by a bullet or any kind of event where someone flies off the handle and uses a firearm to do something crazy for public opinion to go right back to “guns are bad.”

To think that the recent swing in opinion is a good thing is shortsighted, it reflects knee-jerk politics. What gun owners needed, and Libertarians wanted, was a slow and gradual shift in opinion that was sustainable over a very long period of time. I would be happy if it was 2050 and the change in public opinion was causing the Brady Campaign to die off, but 2010 is just too soon.

Our arrival here so quickly forebodes of battles to come; when the public will, no doubt, quickly change its mind again. I’ll enjoy the return of firearms to the fringe of things that are thought to be acceptable while it lasts. But it’s important to realize it won’t last forever.