Cutting off your nose, over ONE thing, means that you get nowhere. With a minority,who do you think sets the agaenda ? I'll help ya out here ... it isn't " our " side.
True, but 45 Senators can block anything from getting through, IF at least 41 of them refuse to budge and they aren't undercut by their party's leadership (thank you Bob Dole). By contrast, anti-gun forces take control of the Republican Party, they will work to ensure that the pro-gun Republicans can't block any anti-gun legislation. They will also seek to punish pro-gun Republicans come campaign time.
Illinois offers a good example of what happens when the RINO Party takes over the Republican Party. Fixgeralt isn't the world's most conservative Republican--far from it--but he's been ousted by the state RINOs because he refuses to accept their corrupt games.