“What matters is that we push the leadership of the NRA off to the far sidelines of the American playing field, while the rest of us fight for our better future.”

It’s time for America to wake up to a new reality — that for more than a generation, a radical fringe group has held sway over the American political process, a cadre that now traffics in conspiracy theories as loony as many militias or “Patriot” groups, that has with no evidence accused the president of planning to grant himself dictatorial powers while embracing “black helicopter”-style tropes about the U.S. surrendering its power to the United Nations, a posse that’s clashed with America’s police chiefs over issues like so-called “cop killer” bullets and has thwarted all efforts to eliminate weapons that are only good for committing mass murder.

This is not about the millions of decent, law-abiding American gun owners who are not only responsible in handling their weapons but who overwhelmingly support reasonable steps toward preventing violence. No, this is about the leadership of the National Rifle Association — a group that has veered far, far away from its 20th century origins as a sensible gun-safety group — and about their allied merchants of death who’ve learned that paranoia can be profitable, and about a handful of radical foot soldiers who pretend to speak for all.

For more on this story, visit: Will Bunch: How to Marginalize an Extreme Fringe Group Called the NRA.