Today in the Morning Line:

More Americans side with gun rights over control for first time

Despite studies on gun-related deaths, most say gun ownership protects potential victims

Giffords, Bloomberg unable to make many inroads

Post-Newtown — Guns in America: Sunday marked two years since 28 people, including 20 children, were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. So where do we stand as a country on the issue of guns? Despite the mass shooting, President Obama and allies in Congress were unable to pass anything related to background checks, despite the overwhelming support in the polls for the measure, let alone limits on ammunition in gun clips. Just how much has the National Rifle Association won the message? Consider: Pew Research’s latest polling shows, for the first time in two decades of surveys, that a majority of Americans think protecting the rights of gun owners (52 percent) is more important than controlling gun ownership (46 percent). In 1993, it was reversed — 57 percent said controlling gun ownership was more important than the 34 percent who said so about protecting gun rights.

Most Americans say owning a gun protects potential victims: What’s more, since the Newtown shootings, those saying owning a gun does more to protect someone from becoming a victim of a crime is up nine points from 48 percent to 57 percent. Just 38 percent said it put people’s safety at risk. All of that is despite studies, including one out this year, showing people who own guns are twice as likely to be killed by one and three times more likely to commit suicide.

Gun-control groups face steepest of odds: Despite spending tens of millions of dollars in states and in the 2014 elections, mostly unsuccessfully, gun-control groups, like those started by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are vowing to continue playing in elections. But without a change of culture or politics, especially with an expanded Republican majority in the House and a Senate newly controlled by the GOP, it’s a safe bet that nothing will pass on limiting gun rights. Some of the families of the victims of the Newtown shootings are going a different route — through the courts.

Nomination, immigration fights lead to strange Saturday in the U.S. Senate

The House of Representatives has left Washington, but Senators continue to slog through nominations, as Democrats hope to use their final days in power to greenlight as many of President Obama’s picks as possible. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada gained a procedural advantage from a rare and unusual three-way battle over the weekend. Friday night, Senate conservatives, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), demanded the Senate vote on President Obama’s executive actions relative to immigration policy. Cruz and others refused to let the $1.1 billion spending bill move forward without the vote on immigration. With government funding due to end Saturday at midnight, the Senate was forced to hold a rare Saturday session. That timing had another effect. It allowed Reid to begin the process of approving a slate of nominees that other Republicans, including Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, had hoped to stall.

By late in the evening Saturday, leaders reached a deal: the Senate voted on, and rejected, Cruz’s “constitutional point of order” regarding the president’s immigration action by a vote of 22-74. See the breakdown here. The chamber then passed the massive $1.1 trillion spending bill just after 10 p.m., keeping government funded.

Now: the Senate continues the nominee drill, including a final vote expected this evening on controversial surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy. Conservatives, and some Red State Democrats, have opposed Murthy because of his past comments that gun violence is a public health problem.

Daily Presidential Trivia:

On this day in 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Which two major, historical documents did Jefferson author or write portions of? Be the first to tweet us the correct answer using #PoliticsTrivia and you’ll get a Morning Line shout-out. Congratulations to Kenneth C. Davis (‏@kennethcdavis) for guessing Thursday’s trivia: Which U.S. president had the most experience working in intelligence gathering? The answer was: George H. W. Bush.

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TOP TWEETS

What does it say that, six years out of office, Dick Cheney can still command the lead spot on the front page of the New York Times? — Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) December 15, 2014

Warren called out for insistence on present tense, keeps using https://t.co/hqBbHxs7TM — Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 15, 2014

The Senate has taken 84 Roll Call votes so far in the lame duck. That's 24% of all 2014 Roll Call votes. — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) December 15, 2014

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