As one who spends a pretty fair bit of time debating forcefully with "our own" to explain and reinforce the important details which come from understanding the foundations of our beliefs, I agree with you that it is sometimes distressing how heated that gets. And I also lament that it is a rare debate that doesn't include a few comments that shouldn't be there: insult rather than insight and accusation rather than instruction.
But we're all individuals and our education on our issues is highly uneven. It isn't like most Americans finish high school or college with a deep understanding of how our government works, how to apply the proper functions of logic to overcome the weight of whatever opinion they've come up with on their own, or a deep understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of the belief in fundamental RKBA.
Rarely is taking the median opinion of a random collection of enthusiasts a good formula for waging a political and social struggle. To break down the organic, unformed, un
informed, "truthy" beliefs of "our" own side -- those basic "I like guns" feelings that brought each of us to favor the 2nd Amendment in the first place -- and educate/reform them into logically sound and internally consistent platforms of thought from which each can reason and fight our daily RKBA battle effectively is one of the basic reasons we come here and debate.
We can't all go marching off to political and social "war" on the strength of whatever "reasonable," "middle-of-the-road," flawed and gap-riddled perspective that each of us comes to out of our own limited views and experiences. That's not good enough. Got to do better, and doing better means educating and challenging each other and spreading a higher level of understanding of our issues, and of strategies for winning our battle.
Sure, there will always be a lot of "cannon fodder" among us.
The common foot-soldier who doesn't really understand the big picture, or the details of the little picture, or why anyone among us might care about issues beyond his tiny sphere, but heads to the polls to pull the lever we most want him/her to pull come election time.
But when that average Joe gun owner picks himself up a little higher and shows enough interest to come here and dig into the pool of deeper understandings, we might have the chance to make an officer out of him! A leader and educator of those in his own group of friends and gun shop pals. Maybe even, someday, a General -- who gets up the gumption to visit his Senators or organize a march or rally.
So yes, we must be polite and respectful of each other as persons. But we must draw a firm line at allowing flawed ideas to propagate among us. We do something important here, in educating and forming the RKBA soldiers and leaders of today and tomorrow. Can't let that be diluted for the sake of not rocking anyone's boat.