I'm not afraid of progressives or of firearms regulation. My point was that the NRA is stupid not to acknowledge the huge gun problem in this country, and not to propose reasonable restrictions on ownership and use. The "cold dead hands" fantasy exemplifies this stupidity. Another fantasy is that civilian militia will stand against an armed federal takeover of the US. That is REALLY a fantasy. We are headed toward more restrictive gun ownership, and the NRA ought to be in the discussion.

I have written many times before that the 2nd Amendment is about militias, period. In the colonial era a gun was akin to a plow, a tool taken for granted as a means of getting meat and defending the homestead. It would not have occurred to the colonials to disarm the pioneer farmers. The issue was state defense by citizen militia. That era is long over, and most Americans live not on farms but in and around cities, and there is no need for hunting or defense against a non-existent federal threat.