You might criticize this by saying “not all republicans” but that’s NOT the argument you think it is.
The moderate enables the radical.
It is a symbiotic relationship.
The man who makes weapons more accessible enables the man who uses those weapons.
Martin Luther King Jr. put it best,
"By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, by allowing our movie and television screens to teach our children that the hero is one who masters the art of shooting and the technique of killing, by allowing all these developments, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes."