Observations on the nature of the debate on gun control.

[gejohnston]

12. welcome to DU

As someone who has worked for gun control for 40 years (since '74), my experience is that the true believers in the gun rights movement are just as closed-minded as you describe us.

That is the definition of true believer.

The true believers I've had contact with see gun ownership as not just a civil right but as a god-given human right that no one can touch or infringe. There is no way to discuss or argue with them. I can think of only maybe 5 gun owners (out of hundreds) who have treated my opinions with any respect.

Do you treat theirs with respect, or just dismiss them as lies without checking facts from unbiased sources?

Also, I can't tell you how many times I've had thoroughly debunked "facts" continue to be thrown at me (like the 2 million plus defensive gun uses each year), and I've NEVER had a true believer go, "Oh, I didn't know that fact was a hoax."

That number comes from a leading criminologist (it is actually the upper range of an error margin) and received one of the American Society of Criminology's awards for that work. The "debunker" is an activist like you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_gun_use

From my point of view, gun control advocates are willing to compromise (we'd rather not, but we'd prefer to have some improvements than the status quo). Gun owners on the other hand reject every suggestion as either stupid, unworkable, or (usually) unconstitutional.

Could it be because they are right? Could that be because they know what they are talking about? Do you give them the respect of listening to why they say it wouldn't work? Compromise means you give up something too, not "OK, we will take not as much now, but will come back for more tomorrow."

Also, the reason why there are no gun-control forums? Because every one I've ever joined gets swamped by hundreds of gun nuts throwing around lies and stupid facts taken out of context.

What lies for example? What stupid facts out of context? Did it ever occur to you that is what your side might be doing? Why should gun rights activists give your opinions any respect when you dismiss whatever they say out of hand, without checking facts from an unbiased source? No, David Hemenway, VPC, and Bloomberg are not unbiased sources.

Don't believe me? Check with some of the gun control groups that have Facebook pages and ask them for a file of the vile, vicious posts and threats they get almost daily. No, my friend, don't go getting holier-than-thou on gun control people. I don't know how it is here in DU, but those who support gun control here feel this is a safe haven from the gun nuts and are understandably loathe to be attacked and battered here.

In my experience, it has been the "gun nuts" that use facts, reason, and evidence. Looking at the Facebook posts of gun control groups, it is your side who makes the vile posts. The gun rights supporters here use facts, evidence, and reason to support our claims. I have seen none of that from your side. All I have seen are insults, logical fallacies, and juvenile penis references. Those do not deserve respect.