Could the ones engaged in such activity simply be agent provocateurs? If we don't learn to hang together, we will surely hang separately.
My takeaway from this particular piece, "Americans' Positive Perception Of NRA Soars As Obama Escalates Gun-Control Agenda", is that it isn't so much directed toward the perception of the "NRA", as it is directed toward Americans' increasingly positive perception of gun ownership. In the battle over gun control, the NRA is most assuredly on our side.
Am I missing something?
I don't think you are missing anything when it comes to;
Americans increasingly positive perception of gun ownership.
I am seeing examples of people close to me, who never had, or wanted, a gun in the past, right now, going through the process of legally acquiring them. (And that's in Massachusetts) -tom