'Reasoned Discourse™,' CSGV style

For those unfamiliar with the term "reasoned discourse," particularly in the context of the gun rights debate, some background information can be found here. The short version is that shortly after the Brady Bunch's Paul Helmke complained on the "Brady Blog," about the lack of "reasoned discourse" about further restrictions of that which shall not be infringed, the Brady Blog disabled comments, casting some doubt on whether or not he wants any discourse at all.

The disabling of comments tends to be par for course with citizen disarmament advocates. There is no way to leave comments responding to Violence Policy Center pieces, the "Gun Guys" don't allow comments, and of the very few blogs devoted to gun rights suppression, even fewer of those allow comments.

One partial exception has been the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV). I say "partial" exception, because although a reader could leave a comment, comments were "moderated," and would only appear after being approved.

I left numerous comments there that were on topic, cordial, and in no way abusive, but expressed my disagreement with CSGV's positions, and provided the reasons for that disagreement. I never kept stats, but my guess is that fewer than half of those comments ever saw the light of day. I know that my experience in that regard was in no way unique.

Now, though, apparently even that concession to "reasoned discourse" is a thing of the past. On both of CSGV's blogs, "Bullet Counter Points," and "Mondays With Mike," one now has to be a "team member" in order to leave a comment.

Not a lot of confidence in their ability to hold up their position in debate, apparently.

Another one bites the dust.