Any of you who regularly tune in Morning Joe (don’t worry… we won’t tell anybody you do) are already familiar with the endless rants and insulting diatribes which have been coming from Joe Scarborough this year. They are mostly aimed at the NRA, along with anyone who still agrees with the majority of their policies in the wake of the Newtown shooting. They have been described as “fringe”, “radical”, “out of step with the country” and “the ten percent.” (Or less.) We’ve all known for some time that Joe used to be a pretty ardent Second Amendment supporter when he served in Congress, so his recent views are clearly something new. But earlier this week, the Daily Caller came across some interesting documents which show precisely how dramatic this turning of the worm has been.

On more than one occasion over the past month, Scarborough has accused NRA-loyal Republicans of putting the interests of “rapists” ahead of other Americans.

“I can’t believe those Republicans are going to allow the entire Republican Party to be the party that basically put rapists’ rights over parents’ rights to keep their kids safe when they go to school,” Scarborough said on his April 8 program…

But Scarborough hasn’t always been so passionate about restricting gun rights. In fact, prior to the 2003 start of his cable television career, he was among the most vehement defenders of gun rights.

In National Rifle Association questionnaires obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller — dated Aug. 23, 1994, Sept. 2, 1994, and June 7, 2000 — Scarborough declared his strong opposition to any federal effort to restrict gun rights.

Scarborough literally “checks all the boxes” on the NRA form which would keep him in the good graces of the group and his constituents who live in an area with a long, traditional culture of safe, responsible gun ownership. (A couple of which we’ll feature in a moment.) But that’s not as definitive as you might think. There have been more than a few politicians over the years who may have personally held only lukewarm agreement with the NRA but filled out the forms to get the coveted rating that many voters look at. But Scarborough goes to the extra step of penning some “personal comments” on the form above and beyond answering the multiple choice questions.

“The NRA must [underlined twice] elect & support candidates who will view the gun rights issue as a constitutional battle. The Founding Fathers did not give us the 2nd Amendment to protect our rights to shoot ducks. Our constitutional right to bear arms is so we may protect our family in the manner we choose. No compromise!“[underlined once]

Well, that’s pretty unambiguous, isn’t it? I mean, he didn’t have to write that part in. He could have just answered the questions and mailed it in. In another section, the candidate is asked to provide their own definition of “assault weapon.” Joe scrawled in two different answers on two forms. Here’s one of them.

Any thing the government would deny the people from protecting themselves against the government.

And this is the same guy who now routinely makes sarcastic jokes about NRA supporters who are “hiding in their basement, guarding their livestock from federal agents and watching for black helicopters.” Oddly enough, when Joe addressed this on his show the day after the Daily Caller broke the story, he just laughed and claimed that this must mean that the NRA is “really afraid” of him.

Joe’s recent wrath has also turned on the Democrat Senators who voted against the background check amendment, referring to them literally as “cowards” and politicians who are afraid of the NRA and “listening to 4% of the voters int their state.” Yet, as the documents in the article show, for one question after another, Scarborough circled each of the multiple choice answers which begin with, “I agree with the NRA…”

Was that cowardice in 1994 and 2000? Or is this simply a form of “evolution” on the subject? People are perfectly entitled to have their opinions evolve as they grow older and gather more information, but let’s not go on the air every day and keep claiming there’s some sort of consistency to your Second Amendment positions over the years as Joe seems to be doing. He’s also going on and on calling these elected officials “cowards” but he certainly seemed to be singing the same tune when he was responsible for answering to his constituents. Maybe it’s just a bit easier when you get invited to sit at the Cool Kids’ table and you now have to answer to the MSNBC audience. You be the judge.