I appreciate the well written posts, but I am much more concerned about the impression some of our content makes on antis and fence-sitters. Particularly when a thread devolves into a series of ranting flames that have absolutely nothing to do with issues involving firearms. For a truly disturbing example of that, you need look no further than the "Man shoots motorcyclist” thread. It was finally locked today – but not before it turned into a ranting, running flame-fest between bikers and car drivers.
I think that the inane, low-road, anti-liberal drivel that comes up in some threads is the worst thing that this board can do to itself. For example, in that thread titled "Trouble Moves in Next Door" or something to that effect, a bunch of people go off on "liberals" and start ranting about social Darwinism, insinuating that eventually all liberals will die off by virtue of natural selection, where the agent of natural selection is partially their inherent, monumental stupidity, partially from their being colossal pansies, or, in some of the more idiotic threads I've seen, their lack of Christian faith.
Good luck changing public opinion when you're actively wishing death or piling barbed insults upon a very large group of people who hold a certain set of political beliefs. As much as everyone likes to make this into an "Us vs. Them" deal around here, where us = righteous and good, and them = evil, child-murdering sodomites, it's idiotic and counterproductive. All it does is create bitterness and hatred. There are a growing number of liberal pro-gun people, and all I can think when I see ranting reminiscent of the Free-Republic forums is how the people responsible for the ranting are just creating a hostile environment for anyone who would fall into the liberal 2A supporter category. There is no gain from insulting the other side, unless your ego is that fragile that you need to engage in some name-calling in order to maintain your psyche.
Realize that most of the people on the anti-gun side (some politicians aside, who are more into social engineering than public safety) want what we want - safety from those who would do us harm. Their approach to achieve this end, however, is misinformed and ineffective, and this is something that can be proven without resorting to ad hominems, and idiotic stereotyping, which just reinforces negative stereotypes of gun owners, and sets our goals a step backwards.