Well, this is a refreshing find! While mention of the Second Amendment was largely tangential to his meaning with this piece, to see a prominent liberal commentator like DKos even mention supporting the RKBA at all is noteworthy. It tells me that we are making headway not only with moderates, libertarians, and others, but also with good old-fashioned liberals and blue-state Democrats like Kos. This is great news.

A few skeptics have pointed out that the Democratic Party has said it supports the RKBA and the Second Amendment, but that they offer that support within the context of assault weapons bans (since you don’t need those pesky things to still be a gun-owner) and closing down gun shows. They argue that there’s no indication that Kos isn’t one of those types; it’s certainly logically possible that Kos would support the Second Amendment in that you can own your granpappy’s shotgun and a bolt action rifle, but no semiauto weapons or handguns. Sure, it’s possible…but not likely. Firstly, he’s addressing the need for Democrats to get back in the mode of being socially libertarian and anti-authortarian. Dems ostensibly tend toward favoring choice on marriage, sexuality, reproduction, religion, etc.; Kos is pointing out that we need to respect and protect all of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights. That’s a position incongruous with the old “you can own hunting weapons but that’s it” type of gun controller nonsense.

Also, it’s highly unusual for a liberal who doesn’t favor a true RKBA approach to even mention the dreaded Second Amendment at all! They usually pretend it doesn’t exist, and then when cornered on it dive into a tired, indefensible effort to redefine the Second Amendment into some sort of collective right (one largely negated or satisfied by the gun possession afforded to members of the National Guard). Kos clearly isn’t going down that path.

Today is a banner day for progressive gun rights activists.