I'm not sure why USA TODAY keeps giving a column to a guy who called President Obama "a racist hatemonger" -- even Fox News got rid of Glenn Beck -- but here's "Instapundit" calling everyone who favors tighter gun control bigots.

Lots of people don't like guns, but crime rates have fallen even as guns have become far more plentiful. And with even gun-ban champion Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., admitting that her assault-weapon ban wouldn't have prevented the Newtown shootings, the ostensible justification for passing new gun control, the opposition to private gun ownership looks more and more like traditional anti-gay sentiment: not a reason-based policy, but something growing out of prejudice.

First, note the little rhetorical trick at the top -- comparing generic "crime rates" to the proliferation of guns, instead of gun deaths. And both the AMA and Richard Florida took a look at the data and concluded that states with more gun regulations have fewer gun deaths. How about that for a "reasoned-based policy"?

And note how Reynolds conflates favoring sensible gun regulations with "opposition to private gun ownership." Guess that makes the 88% of Americans who favor background checks irrational, bigoted gun grabbers.

But look, preening as an oppressed minority is one of the right's favorite tricks -- and not a surprising tactic from a guy who thinks the real victims of Newtown was the NRA.