Grumpy didn't say "get a shield". He said it's obvious that you die if you think you can charge the ranged enemy without any help of your own ranged! You as infantry cannot decide the round on your own if the enemy infantry and ranged plays together, ie. shooting you first and then charging.
That's more than obvious. A shield wouldn't win the round for you or protect you from more than 1 ranged anyway, it would help you however for a head on charge together with all the other infantry.
The thing is, how would you stop so many people from playing ranged. It's a hell of fun to shoot others and especially long-playing infantry and see them QQ all the time. Or would you want a max of ranged players, so people end up not being able to connect to the server cause you think there shouldnt be as many of them?
There were many ranged nerfs and people still play HX, HA and Archers. (crossbows, well, ofc many things changed for them as well since native times however they weren't as much affected as an Archer for example)
However I often see Panos as one of the later survivors so I doubt he ever charges in in the first seconds.