Today's shooting news once again makes the obvious obvious.

[spin]

70. I always consider that when I am posting on DU it is a very liberal and progressive forum ...

not an ultra conservative site.

In the past I used to post on more conservative sites about firearms and almost everybody agreed with my opinions. The problem was such sites often contained political views on other topics which I disagreed with as I am a Democrat.

I found that DU was basically more aligned with my political views but many posters largely disagreed with my feelings about gun control. I decided to test my thoughts on this issue by debating them with some very intelligent and liberal people. It has proved challenging and along the way I have learned far more than I would have if I would have continued to post on the more conservative sites. Both sides of the gun control issue have good arguments to make and all deserve consideration.

I doubt if I have convinced any very liberal posters to change their views on gun control however I feel that insulting them would accomplish nothing so I do my best to try to be polite. I sometimes get insulted by some who use this technique as they feel they are losing the debate on gun control but overall most here have been reasonably polite in their responses. When someone does flame me, than I merely laugh and realize that I am winning the argument.