While some of our friends on the other side of the gun violence prevention issue can be forgiven some, er, irrational exuberance over yesterday’s election results, the reality is a little more mundane.

For better or worse, guns didn’t play a prominent role in the outcomes of any of the four high-profile races yesterday — Virginia Governor, New York-23, New Jersey Governor, and New York City Mayor.  By almost all accounts, the bad economy and high unemployment were the key ballot-box issues.

Further, all these races played out on the home turf of either side of the gun violence prevention debate.  NRA-endorsed Bob McDonnell won the governor’s election in the NRA’s home state of Virginia.  Meanwhile, NRA-endorsed Dede Scozzafava couldn’t even make it to Election Day in the conservative NY-23rd Congressional district — which a Democrat won for the first time since the Civil War era.

On the other hand, Brady Campaign-endorsed Michael Bloomberg won a historic third term as New York City mayor, while Brady-endorsed Jon Corzine lost his bid for re-election as New Jersey governor to gun control supporter Chris Christie.

In short, NRA and Brady each went 1-1 in yesterday’s big races.

While the NRA will surely trumpet its candidate’s win in Virginia, observers will remember how NRA’s TV ads told McDonnell supporters to vote on the wrong day, while in another TV advertisement they “reinforced defaming stereotypes” of Italian-Americans.

And, finally, for all their storied “power,” the special Congressional election in New York state showed NRA leaders unable to even keep their candidate in the race — much less push her to victory.

For all the drama, yesterday’s elections — while saying a lot about the state of the economy today — said little about the state of the gun violence prevention issue in America.