Last summer I participated for a couple of months in a moderated discussion/project by invitation from the Public Insight Network aka PIN as part of a News21 project. Google News21 and the Public Insight Network for more information about those entities if you are interested and in the USA.

It was an eye-opening experience for me. I came away from it much more educated about guns, much more educated about what informs, or doesn't inform peoples positions on guns in the USA, and also came away from it, for awhile, with some sense of despair.

There were some small subset of people at the extremes of each side who were primarily irrational thinkers. Not irrational in the sense of being mentally ill, but their positions were primarily based on emotional thinking. There was a large subset of people who were not anti any firearms and were not anti any regulation of gun ownership or types of guns. But that subset, while deep, was also very wide with respect to what and who and how regulations related to guns make sense, or are even acceptable to them.

The people who ended up really ultimately scaring me, however, in terms of whether or not some kind of meaningful gun regulation is possible in the USA during my lifetime or the lifetime of my son, were some few very articulate, very bright, very well trained in how to handle guns who were first amendment ideologues and who see themselves as protectors of others, with a tiny edge of paranoia and mistrust. Plus more than a little arrogance. A very tiny edge of what I view as paranoia, but I am generally oblivious to risk in 'everyday' circumstances. Folks not 'looking for trouble' or paranoid in a pathological sense, but have perhaps lived lives either in the military or living on ranches where self-sufficiency is very important and some natural risks are common, and this has shaped their over-all view. For the most part very libertarian. And nearly all from the West. Most were gun safety instructors.