If pro-life conservatives ever claimed that supporters of Planned Parenthood had “blood on their hands”, the mainstream media would howl in protest.

Why, then, do anti-gun activists who make precisely such claims about supporters of the NRA draw widespread acclaim for their courage and idealism?

The connection between abortion and killing is obvious—even if you deny that the procedure is equivalent to murder. But there’s no connection between backing gun-rights and endorsing killing. Disagreement over specific policy proposals doesn’t mean that those on the other side want to consign our children to early death or to obliterate our Constitutional rights.

Republican leaders in Washington have already moved ahead with common sense enhancements in our gun regulations but hysterical, polarizing rhetoric only makes constructive reform less likely.