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Other issues discussed Thursday suggest possible shifts in the major themes defining the campaign—or at least changes in the topics moderators are asking about. Guns were a focus for the candidates after mass shootings in El Paso and near Midland, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last month. Overall, the topic was barely mentioned during the previous debate in July. (Leatherby, McCartney, Rojanasakul and Lin, 9/13)

ABC debate moderator David Muir asked Harris about her proposal, if she were elected president, to take executive action on guns, including banning the imports of AR-15 tactical rifles. Biden, Muir pointed out, said Harris’s proposal wasn’t constitutional. “Does the vice president have a point there?” Muir asked Harris. Biden cut in before she could answer, saying of executive actions that “some things you can. Many things you can't.” Harris then leaned over her lectern, looked at Biden and smiled.“Hey, Joe, instead of saying, ‘No we can't,’ let's say yes, we can,” she smiled, repeating the Obama-Biden 2008 campaign slogan. (Caputo and McCaskill, 9/12)

When the Democratic presidential debate turned to gun control, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke became emotional as he told of meeting a woman who watched her daughter bleed to death after a mass shooting. There were too many victims, he said, and not enough ambulances after the attack in Odessa, Texas. He talked of the devastation wrought by high-velocity rifle rounds that cause massive internal injuries when they smash into their human targets, including victims in the attacks in Odessa and in his hometown of El Paso. (Pearce, 9/12)

Republicans have been warning for decades that Democrats will try to take weapons away from gun owners. Donald Trump said that about Hillary Clinton in 2016. John McCain said that, somewhat jokingly, about Barack Obama in 2008. The National Rifle Association was not joking at all when it said the same thing. Dick Cheney said that about John Kerry in 2004. Kerry was so nervous about turning off gun lovers that he was be photographed on a hunting trip to make people feel at ease. That kind of pandering is no more. O'Rourke went to a gun show earlier this year and then endorsed a national gun licensing program like the one the NRA has long warned against. (Wolf, 9/12)

During a night of tense exchanges on the Democratic debate stage in Houston, four candidates made a point of offering kind words to rival Beto O’Rourke for his handling of the mass shooting last month at a Walmart in his home town of El Paso, Texas. The former Texas congressman raced home from the campaign trail on the day of the shooting last month, which killed 22 people and injured 24 others. He later canceled a series of campaign events. (Yang, 9/12)

“I want to commend Beto for how well he has spoken to the passion and the frustration and the sadness after what happened in his hometown of El Paso. He's done a great job with that,” Castro told his fellow candidate. The former vice president also commended O’Rourke for how he handled the shooting, first calling the former congressman “Beto” before apologizing. “Excuse me for saying Beto," Biden said, to which O’Rourke replied, "That’s all right, Beto's good.” “The way he handled what happened in his hometown is meaningful. The look in the eyes of those people, to see those kids, to understand those parents, you understand the heartache,” Biden said. (Wiersema, 9/13)

Those in the second tier, after Biden, Warren and Sanders, are under increasing pressure to break out of the pack. They all assailed Trump. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called Trump a racist. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke called him a white supremacist. And Kamala Harris, a California senator, said Trump’s hateful social media messages provided “the ammunition” for recent mass shootings. (Barrow and Peoples, 9/13)