For three decades the extremist leaders of the modern National Rifle Association have focused on making it tough for politicians, almost all of them Democrats, who dare to argue in favor of perfectly reasonable gun-law reforms. They have demonized state legislators, governors, congresspersons, senators, and presidents, which has in turn intimidated other such leaders into silence and policy paralysis—or, worse, spurred them into loosening gun-related restrictions on carrying firearms openly or concealed just about anywhere the carriers wish. They have attacked Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as “gun-grabbers,” and incited racist and sexist rhetoric from some gun-owners about those two and other reform politicians. For the first two days of the Democratic National Convention, not much was said about gun-related violence.