James Talarico

But I tried to check that anger, tried to remember my teachings.

And I responded and I asked him to get coffee.

This is a guy, just a guy in my comments, right?

That's wild.

And so we actually met up for coffee.

Turned out to be a lovely guy.

He actually brought his wife and his kids, adorable kids.

He talked about how he was a gun enthusiast, and he was also a certified NRA safety officer.

And so the more we talked, we actually got down to how we both really value safety in this conversation.

and how he was talking about how gun owners in many ways are the biggest advocates for safety.

And then we found some consensus on background checks, stuff like that.

But it turned from this dunking in comments on social media to when we were face to face, human to human, suddenly we heard each other, right?

We listened to each other.

And he realized I was not trying to take people's guns.

I have no interest in that.

He recognized that I was just trying to find a way to safety, which is his value too.

Suddenly that's a conversation.

I'm not saying I don't want to be, I'm trying, I'm not naive.

This stuff often doesn't end well, right?

You don't often get to an agreement, but I have seen over and over again that when you extend an open hand instead of a closed fist, it's a game changer.