Let me put this another way. It's not about the ammo.

Let's imagine a guy named "Joe" wants to run for the school board.
Let's imagine that "Joe" is running for a seat held by by "Bob" and the campaign runs ugly. Happens all the time, in communities of all sizes.

Now, folks in Bob's camp start looking for something - anything - that they can use to make Joe's campaign fall apart. With a little Google searching, and a little IP address matching, some smarts and perhaps a little subterfuge, you connect Joe with some email addresses, some web sites, and then you eventaually connect Joe to a username on a forum (say....this forum). No, it's not that hard. Yes, I know how to do it, and I have traced people from their internet postings when they posted threatening and harassing messages on an "anonymous" forum on iVillage where my wife was a frequent poster. And the guy was arrested, and went to trial, and he was fined and served some time. So I know how it can be done.

Now perhaps Joe has posted about his Ruger 10/22, and how he's looking for a new high-capacity magazine for it that won't jam, and he's looking for a cheap place to buy good ammo, because he's down to his last few hundred rounds of .22!

Now, run that same story through the filter of the hysterical, misinformed press with a "confidential source" from Bob's campaign:

HEADLINE: School Board Candidate Found Seeking Assault Rifle Parts & Ammo In Internet Chat Room

The Daily Hysteric has learned that Joe, a candidate for a seat in district 19's hotly contested school board elections, has been posting messages in a survivalist web site seeking high-capacity magazines for an automatic rifle he owns. Our sources confirm that Joe is an avid firearms enthusiast who has amassed hundreds of rounds of ammunition for his automatic Ruger rifle and several other assault-style weapons he owns. Incumbent school board candidate Bob laughed off suggestions that he "watch his back" stating that "while Joe and I have some pretty deep disagreements over how the school district should run, I doubt that he's dangerous to me or anyone else on the current school board." Joe could not be reached for comment at press time.

That's what I'm talking about. It's not paranoia, it's a realization of just how things are taken out of context and can be used to mix things up.