When I was in my teens and twenties the Feds and the UN were "the enemy." Black helicopters were up to no good and Hungarian troops were hiding the Swan Range, ready to attack Kalispell I guess. Good old Wayne La Pierre got involved and said we needed guns to protect us from the government's jack-booted thugs. The paranoia was amusing until McVeigh and Nichols blew up the Oklahoma City Federal building. But even pictures of a fireman carrying a murdered baby couldn't get La Pierre to shut up. It wasn't until Bush publicly resigned his NRA life membership that Wayne was forced to lay low a while.
Maybe it is my age, but I'm not finding these new attacks on the press and (more than) half of our fellow Americans amusing this time. If you can't see the problems with the NRA suggesting arms are needed to protect us from the press and the left, then maybe you are too young to understand that this baseless venom will eventually have consequences. This isn't even about the 2A - it is a direct attack on those who don't support a political viewpoint. If this doesn't get you to tear up your membership, what will?
Excellent post, I agree with all you said.