DEFINING WINGNUTTERY DOWN

This sort of thing has almost become a cliche:

... Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman is showing off his Second Amendment fervor by doing what some consider unthinkable: giving away a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle....

His campaign - not his government office, spokesman Donny Ferguson told MailOnline - is offering the unusual prize to entrants who join his online mailing list.

Twitter erupted late Wednesday after the congressman announced the prize giveaway by tweeting: 'Want to win a FREE AR-15? Congressman Steve Stockman is giving one away! ... Grab this gun before Obama does!' ...

Everybody's giving away AR-15s these days: Joe the Plumber, Townhall columnist Doug Giles, the Tennessee Firearms Association, the National Association for Gun Rights. The Daily Caller had a weekly gun giveaway before the election. Gun giveaways are all the rage. (Here's a list of a couple dozen recent giveaways.)

Among politicians, Stockman's a trendsetter now -- but I bet he won't be for long. I bet there'll be at least half a dozen Republican congressional candidates giving away guns in the 2014 election cycle.

And by 2016, I bet at least one GOP presidential candidate will do this. If Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Allen West all run, I suspect all three will give away guns. We'll barely regard it as unusual.

And Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush or whoever wins the nomination will be described by the press as a moderate conservative just for not giving a gun away during the campaign.