The timing of my firearms purchases has largely coincided with proposed legislation to make those purchases more difficult or illegal. But the rationale in my mind has often been, "well, if I'm gonna buy this thing, I'd better buy it now, before it gets more difficult or gets illegal." I know lots of Soldiers who bought firearms soon after deployments because that was when they had the most money saved up. I know others who bought them after ETS because they no longer got to shoot at work, so they bought their own.

As for radicalizing, I don't get the connection. You either hold radical views or get persuaded into them. I don't see how that comes about by imposing background checks or a 3-day wait period or a ban on rifles with bayonet lugs.

That this was deliberate seems pretty obvious. You can't leak a memo bashing the right wing because it will be recognized as not a leak. So you leak two memos - one bashing each side - but not one that upsets your natural allies. And if there's a bit of a backlash, so what? You've now got official-looking documents in circulation that give estimates perceived as credible that anyone opposing gun control legislation may turn into Tim McVeigh. I already foresee the news coverage... "but getting beyond the leaks and controversy, these are very disturbing intelligence assessments about possible radicalization of gun rights proponents..." Mission accomplished. Now the gun control proponents are the voice of reason, passing legislation despite the "dangers" of the radical kooks who oppose them. We need to get these people into Iraq and Afghanistan to work beside our IO folks.