I’m sure the NRA had its reasons for giving Howard Dean an A-rating, but let’s not forget there wasn’t that much Dean could do on guns in his home state. Vermont’s constitution states:

“That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State – and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.”