MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Less than two weeks before Election Day, Nigel Broadbent stood before a group of anxious tea party Pennsylvanians to offer a stark vision of how the Second Amendment could soon vanish.

He was preaching to the choir as he relayed how gun rights had eroded in his native United Kingdom. When he asked the gathered members of Veterans and Patriots United if they trusted the U.S. government with that key part of the Constitution, the response was a resounding “No!”

“You are losing your freedoms,” Broadbent said at the group’s meeting outside Pittsburgh.

That feeling among gun rights advocates has taken on new urgency in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state where the U.S. Senate race features the unusual distinction of both the Republican and Democrat arguing over who would be more effective in tightening some gun regulations.

The dynamic reflects a national shift in which repeated mass shootings and subsequent outreach efforts appear to be moving gun control away from politics' third rail. From the presidential race on down, the issue is often being discussed in ways unthinkable even four years ago.

“In 2012, it was an issue that the candidates shied away from,” said Erika Soto Lamb, a spokeswoman for Everytown for Gun Safety, a national gun control group. “And if they talked about it, it was to prove their hunting bona fides.”

Pennsylvania's Senate contest between Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Katie McGinty is the leading edge of that trend. It remains to be seen if the race signals a true evolution, but the candidates' positions have split natural constituencies and created unexpected alliances.

And though the scenario may seem far away in gun-loving Texas, Pennsylvanians on both sides offered the Lone Star State words of either hope or despair.

“The Texans should consider that the Alamo might need to be re-created,” said Kim Stolfer, president of Firearms Owners Against Crime, a Pennsylvania gun rights group. “And if they consider that a remote possibility, they’re not properly analyzing the threat.”

The Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race between Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Katie McGinty features the unusual distinction of both candidates arguing over who would be more effective in tightening some gun controls. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

The Second Amendment has long been a driver in election years. Particularly for Republicans. Particularly in White House campaigns. And GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has used the issue of gun rights, in particular, to stress the stakes of filling a Supreme Court slot.

“If my opponent should win this race ... we will have a Second Amendment which will be a very, very small replica of what it is right now,” Trump said in the final presidential debate.

Democrat Hillary Clinton denies that charge. But she’s pushed new gun control measures with gusto.

She made a point in the debates to bring up ideas such as bolstering background checks and preventing people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns. And it did not go unnoticed that she made gun safety a focal point at the Democratic National Convention.

“Just remember how amazing it is for a presidential candidate to openly talk about the 2nd Amendment as part of a general election strategy,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy wrote on Twitter this summer.

Just remember how amazing it is for a Presidential candidate to openly talk about the 2nd Amendment as part of a general election strategy. — Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 29, 2016

In years past, there may have been more equivocation to placate gun owners in battleground states like Pennsylvania.

The state, even with urban centers like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, is home to a strong gun rights culture. That’s particularly true in small towns, the places where President Barack Obama once famously said “bitter” people “cling to their guns.”

At Ace Sporting Goods, a gun shop about 45 minutes southwest of Pittsburgh, a steady stream of customers came and went on a rainy weekday morning.

A sign out front welcomed them with a message to vote for Trump: “Protect your gun rights and your family.” Owner George Romanoff said a lot of “fervent Second Amendment supporters” this year are keeping their finger on the political pulse.

“People are very concerned about the election,” he said.

In the state's U.S. Senate race, McGinty echoes fellow Democrat Clinton on gun safety issues. Toomey, once backed by the NRA, doesn't go as far. But he has bucked the GOP to push for expanded background checks and to support some version of the terrorist watch list proposal.

In other words, things are complicated.

On the gun rights side, Firearms Owners Against Crime is refusing to endorse either candidate. But Pennsylvanians for Self Protection, a similar group based in suburban Philadelphia, is pointing to Toomey as the "lesser of two evils."

On the gun control side, top figures like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, a shooting survivor, are backing Toomey for making a stand. But CeaseFire Pennsylvania is behind McGinty, saying Toomey "hasn't done enough."

“We’re still really glad that both candidates are talking about it,” said Shira Goodman, CeaseFire’s executive director.

Some observers point to a recent raft of mass shootings — most notably the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012 that left 20 children dead — as motivating the shift. Others credit the coordinated, high-dollar efforts by Bloomberg and other gun control activists in turning the tide.

And some voters, even Republicans, said the matter just comes down to common sense.

“They’re looking to close loopholes,” said Pam Keeler, a 68-year-old who joined her husband in attending a Toomey event at Bob’s Diner in Pittsburgh. “These are normal, good things.”

But it's difficult to measure the issue's true resonance in the Senate race, given the recent focus on personal attacks and whether Toomey will vote for Trump.

Neither McGinty nor Toomey mentioned their gun positions at campaign events they hosted within hours of each other last week in Pittsburgh. The candidates’ guns approach, which has been brought up in debates, could still serve as the proxy for their main arguments.

McGinty, who has said Toomey simply sought a photo op on gun safety, has accused him of failing the "test of character and courage" when it really matters. And Toomey cast McGinty as a "hyper-partisan" "rubber stamp" who would not be an "independent voice" in the Senate.

But for many voters, their opinions on guns — and other topics — are already settled.

At the Veterans and Patriots United meeting, about 50 members gathered to listen to the lengthy talk on gun rights and an even more detailed discourse on how to preserve the integrity of election results. Several vented afterward about their choices for Senate.

Diane Spicher, one of the group’s leaders, said she would vote for Toomey even though she was disappointed with his stance on gun rights. More than concern about any one proposal, she said she worried about conceding any ground to gun control groups.

“Their ultimate goal is to disarm everyone,” she said.

And at McGinty’s campaign event at the University of Pittsburgh, a crowd of college students, retired professors and others packed in to hear Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal icon. Asked about the suggestion of a gun control conspiracy, some in attendance laughed.

But others said they did want to make real progress in tightening gun regulations. And rather than feeling good about having two Senate candidates pushing gun control, some accused Toomey of just playing games.

“Toomey knew that it would never fly with a Republican Congress,” said Janice Gladden, who serves on a local school board.

So the future of the gun debate in Pennsylvania and beyond remains unclear.

Toomey, in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, said he's been able to sway "passionate supporters of the Second Amendment" when he gets the chance to explain what he's trying to do. But even he remained skeptical that the national discourse on guns is evolving in a major way.

“That would be hard to say,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s changed that much.”