Over at the Hartford Courant, gun control advocate Rand Richards Cooper has a question for gun rights advocates: “Can we agree that 30,000 annual gun-related deaths (and many more injuries) is undesirable; that it is a problem? If we can agree on that, we can proceed to discuss how one might reduce these numbers without threatening the fundamental right to own a firearm?” Before you answer, clock Cooper’s characterization of the “gulf” between pro- and anti-gunners. “The bottom-line fear on the other side is that that we ‘gun-grabbers’ want to take their guns away. On my side it’s that ‘gun nuts’ are absolutists who will never agree to any limitation or regulation of gun use whatsoever, no matter how reasonable.” Sounds about right to me. So is there any common ground?