Guns

This week . . . the school shooting in Florida understandably opened the floodgates of polarization around the issue of guns. Everyone, I am sure, mourns the tragic, senseless loss of innocent life. And there are probably thoughtful suggestions on how we might take steps to decrease the chances of this kind of horror being repeated. But polarization makes defending your side and accusing the other more important than finding solutions. Anti-gun people are concerned about safety. Pro-gun people are concerned about rights. It is easy to caricature and dismiss them. But doing so widens the gap of dysfunction and solution. Which, this week especially, is a grim reminder of the deeply serious cost of polarization. When reading these examples, check the above list and ask yourself: regardless of whether you agree or disagree, is this really advancing an intelligent resolution through the persuasive, rational arguments of advocacy…or simply fueling the fire of conflict through the divisive, emotional manipulations of polarization?

Here are a few of the week’s many polarizing headlines about this issue, from the left and right:

Red Headlines

We Need Concealed-Carry in Schools

Calling Good, Evil and Evil, Good: How ‘Christian Liberals’ Twist the Words of Jesus to Wage War on the Second Amendment

None of These Popular Gun Control Proposals Would Have Prevented the Parkland Shooting

Jimmy Kimmel Beclowns Himself Again

Sen. Chuck Grassley Folds Again: Open to Gun Control Discussion Post-Parkland Attack

Blue Headlines

Senator who weakened background checks says they are all we need

Want to See Gun Control Enacted? Support a Movement to Arm Black Folks En Masse

Jimmy Kimmel fights back tears addressing Florida shooting: ‘Children are being murdered’

This Republican candidate is holding an AR-15 raffle, just days after Parkland shooting

More to explore

‘It absolutely changed my life’: How a conflict-ridden ‘dirtball’ became a legendary bridge builder

09/02/2026 No Comments

Growing up in the eighties, his family moved all around the Midwest as his parents chased down steady, blue-collar work: factory jobs, construction, truck driving, whatever could pay the bills. “We were always poor,” Wilk said. And whether they were in Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, or Minnesota, he often found himself on the outs. “It didn’t matter which side of the tracks we were on,” he said. “It was always the wrong side of the tracks.”

‘Braver Angels really helped me to see the humanity in people from the other side’: One high schooler’s journey to better political conversations

06/18/2026 No Comments

A native of Boulder, Colorado, Mia didn’t know many Trump supporters—and she was nervous to engage with them. “I was like, ‘Don’t they hate women? Don’t they hate black people?’” she said. “That was my initial belief because that’s what I had heard about people who voted for Trump.” But she quickly realized she was wrong. During the first Braver Lens session, Mia was able to connect with conservatives in the group and recognize their points of commonality. “When we met, they showed their pictures, and explained their life stories, and I was able to see where our values overlap,” she said.

How a Christian conservative found his way to Braver Angels

06/09/2026 No Comments

As a young man, Daniel’s father emerged from a broken, dysfunctional home looking for direction and found it while attending a Billy Graham crusade in Chicago. There, he “walked forward”—committing himself to Jesus Christ and changing the trajectory of his family. Not long after, he married Daniel’s mom, a Christian convert whose grandparents sought refuge in America after escaping pogroms in Europe.