Yes, I'm talking about the president's two young daughters. They're mentioned, not by name, just by the fact that he had kids, in an online video ad brought to us by the NRA.

The ad is a preemptive response to President Barack Obama's plans to try to reduce gun violence.

Many are critical of the NRA using the president's kids for political gain. Well, we'll see if there's any gain. At the most, it'll preach to the converted and it will, as most of the NRA's leadership does, likewise anger those who do not respect the NRA.

One of the critics is the Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson, who always writes with strong reason and sharp humor and says that the tactic shows the desperation of the NRA. It does reek of desperation and like I said, it will only convince the true believers.

But many of the comments I've seen have said it's wrong to bring the children of the president into the debate, to use them for political gain. Even the White House complained. Hmm. I don't think so. Presidential children are always in the news when they do something, good or bad, and he had mentioned his being a father as impacting how he feels about certain things. And it's a fair thing to point out, that the NRA wants guns in schools as protection and the presidential children have such protections.

Of course, they have that protection because there are so many nuts with access to guns, but hey, we only have 30 seconds to make up our minds.

Funny, too, that many complain about the president using Sandy Hook to look into gun control and prosecuting gun crimes. That's a pretty amazing argument, seeing how actions always cause reactions. George W. Bush didn't denounce the Taliban not consider a war with Afghanistan until after 9.11, and he wasn't politicizing anything there. He, and we, reacted. Most major changes come after something terrible, and it's not politicizing the event.

A boat sinks and dozens die, then we talk boating regulations. Hundreds get sick after food is tainted and we talk regulations and enforcement. Sometimes the reaction is too big, but when you have dozens of school shootings and thousands killed, it'll bring about a reaction. This one took a long time, and it's too bad for the gun owners that the NRA doesn't participate in the debate. They'll be left out of the decision-making process if they keep angering those in the middle.

But maybe it's just about membership dues for them.

Nonetheless, nothing wrong with their ad, except it isn't helping their cause. Their ads should reach the middle, if they want to be part of the solution and not relegated to fringe group status.