A little over a year ago, I was banned from a Facebook page known as "The Beer Party" for expressing dissent when it called for a reinstatement of the ban on standard-capacity firearm magazines after the Tucson shooting. Why? Because I politely expressed disagreement. A ban on somebody who politely expresses disagreement ONLY happens on that one issue. More recently, one one of the two "Being Liberal" pages, I was told that I am a Ron Paul supporter by several other people for expressing disagreement with the page admin. When I express disagreement with page admins for firearm-related Facebook pages, the reaction is usually something along the lines of "we agree on the issue that matters most, so let's not let our differences divide us and weaken that cause," regardless of how crazy the person's other views are. If militia members can be more civil and polite than the standard member of the American left, there is a huge problem.

When I comment on Huffington Post articles related to firearms, I invariably get called a large number of names, mostly incorrect assumptions about my political views. When I correct people, I get responses along the lines of "I doubt you are really a liberal." I'm pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, pro-labor, pro-public education, and favor of the Scandinavian healthcare and prison systems, so what else do I need? When I am accused of being astroturf on Huffington Post instead of given an actual response to my assertions, the accuser gets high-fived by several other commenters, but if I accuse "BayBeauty467," the username of Ladd Everitt, the communications director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, of being astroturf, the response from the same people is that I need to actually address what he is saying, regardless of how many logical fallacies it contains. In fact, earlier today, somebody responded to me saying that the National Rifle Association's concealed carry hoodies have been sold for years (the aforementioned Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and other Joyce Foundation-funded organizations have attempted to use the fact that navy blue is listed as "new" in their online store to say that the entire product line is new and exists solely because of the shooting in Florida) by saying "Why do you even visit HuffPost if you feel this way?" If this was any other issue, nobody would even think of behaving as such.

Don't think this doesn't also happen in the Daily Kos. Where else do I get called a troll for politely disagreeing? Absolutely nowhere. Although the user who made the accusation has withdrawn the accusation and acted commendably in that he admitted that he was wrong, it is still the case that his first response to seeing my comment was to call me a troll.

When you object to being called a "baby killer" for being pro-choice, but use the term "gun nut" to express exactly the same kind of disdain, you are a hypocrite.

This diary could definitely be made longer, but I don't feel like making it longer. I think I got my point across well enough with just this.