some thots on guns and civility

From a societal standpoint, guns are perhaps the the essential symbol for what ought to be regulated in a sane society as their primary purpose is to interfere with the freedoms of nonconsenting others.  This does not mean prohibition nor confiscation.  This means sane regulation such that people can feel that their rights are not being overcome by anyone with a grudge and a gun.

Personally, I don't care whether people own guns or high heels or silly putty.  You stay out of my way; I'll stay out of yours.  What really irks me is all the unexamined talking points and escalated ire.  It ought to be simple enough to understand that people are not likely to respond well to the prospect of stupid assholes with deadly weapons.

I tend to wonder how people favoring gun rights can think they are being persuasive by acting like angry adolescents and threatening violence against those who disagree with their position. Nasty, aggressive argument against people who are concerned about gun ownership's possible negative consequences for themselves and others doesn't seem to me to be a good tactic to assure people of the good intentions of gun owners. 

What if we stopped attempting to beat each other with our weapons of choice and moved through into a discussion about how to better get along?  Maybe we can each have our weapons to work on practice, to feel safer, while looking beyond those defenses to some shared vision of useful interaction, civil dialog?