Feelings are important. They just can't be more important than facts. I don't know about you, but I carry out of fear (a feeling) and because carrying makes me
feel more comfortable. It’s a minor fear and I take a minor action to mitigate it. The difference between Dana and I is that my fear is rational, based on the admittedly small probability I will need to defend my life. Violent crime is not the boogie man, it really does exist. Rational fear leads us to take rational steps to feel comfortable. I wear a seat belt, I have life insurance, I don't drink and drive. All these actions are driven by some small fear. The actions are a minor inconvenience, but the avoided consequences are potentially catastrophic.
Dana's fear is not rational because the things he is afraid of never actually happen. Irrational fear leads us to act irrationally. Irrational fears are called phobias. They cause us to act in ways that cause major inconvenience in our lives, but the consequences of ignoring phobias are negligible. This is where Dana is stuck. His phobia leads him to act irrationally, to advocate for fewer armed citizens and even fewer armed police (he actually implied cops with guns make him nervous). The eventual result of his actions is more crime and more innocents killed, possibly including Dana himself. His phobia is causing him to act against his own best interest.
The goal is to somehow get him to act based on a rational fear (self defense) and not an irrational fear (of ‘gun nuts’). Getting mugged might help
, but while we are waiting for that to happen we could ask Dana to spend some time in the County jail interviewing violent criminals, and have him decide if he is more afraid of them than he is of us.
It IS our job to help him feel safe with our excersise of our rights. It's just as important to our freedom as serving in the military, fighting bad laws and supporting good elected officials. Suggesting he does not matter is the same as ignoring those pesky bombers at pearl harbor. He is not going to go away, and every unanswered liberal column is a blow to our freedom.