From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Guns, abortion, and political realities.

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look of the issues Americans care about most.

This week's tragedy at Virginia Tech, and a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court

have focused new attention on the right to bear arms and a woman's right to abortion.

Majorities of Americans support both with restrictions,

but conservative minorities are dominating the debates on policy.

On to the point, why are Democrats backing away from an issue that matters to their liberal base?

Will Republicans end up hurting their cause by pushing too hard to please conservatives?

Has framing both issues in absolute terms made compromise unattainable?

On reporter's notebook later on, did a U.S. court grant bail to a terrorist or a freedom fighter?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine

T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again. Warren Alney, back with To the Point. High-profile events of this

week have put hot-button issues back on the nation's agenda, but action on one is much more likely

than it is on the other. On To the Point, have the Democrats given up on gun control? Will the

Republicans shoot themselves in the foot by pushing too hard on abortion? On reporter's notebook, the case of Luis Pasada, a 79-year-old accused of terrorism by Cuba and Venezuela, released on bail by a U.S. Court of Appeals. First, this news update, the Senate's Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada

described the current course of the war in Iraq in stark terms today.

As long as we follow the President's path in Iraq, the war is lost.

But there is still a chance to change course, and we must change course.

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