You don't have to "give them" an opening, they make their own, and on this issure, "renewal" of the AWB, they are already in full bleat. The issue is not going to die, and "W" will be blamed, already has been in some reports, for the "strategery" of talking renewal while secretly "ordering" Tom Delay to kill it. If he's going to get the heat anyway, he should get into the kitchen ... unless the "stragery" that you and the gun grabbers seem to think is what's really going on is not what's truly behind his spokesmans' statements of his support, but rather that the President really does support renewal. I actually hope you and the gun grabbers are right on this one, but it doesn't really match his general MO. He might hold his cards close, but he doesn't use a marked deck either.
And they can't prove a thing if he doesn't open his mouth and say the words knee-jerk "conservatives" want him to say.
It will be as easy as pie to ignore the AWB renewal and let it die. It's not ignoring it that will breathe life into it.