Dear conservatives,

I’m a liberal, and I’m not interested in a debate about the Second Amendment. I already know how it plays out.

You’ll say it’s your right enshrined by the Constitution, and I’ll say a “well-regulated militia” was intended to fend off a tyrannical government armed with muskets, not drones with long-range missile capabilities.

You’ll say gun control is a “slippery slope,” and I’ll cite Australia as a gun control case study.

You’ll say an AR-15 is not an assault rifle, and I’ll tell you that’s a red herring.

You’ll say guns don’t kill people, and I’ll point out how hard it would be to kill 20 people in a row with a knife.

You’ll say more people die from automobile accidents, and I’ll tell you guns are now the leading cause of death for U.S. children.

You’ll call me a communist. I’ll call you an NRA stooge.

But I don’t want to rehash the same, tired arguments. I don’t want to trade insults. Neither of us wins. Neither of us benefits. And our country continues to suffer.

I could try to show you how heartbroken I am, how desperate I am to make things better, but I know you’ll see it as cynical virtue signaling, just as I’ll see your defense of the Second Amendment as heartlessly self-righteous.

What I want to tell you, instead, is that, contrary to popular belief, I don’t want to take away your guns. I don’t want to take away your home defense firearm. I don’t want to take away your hunting rifle.

I don’t tell you this to win you over. I tell you this because I think we misunderstand each other. I think you think I want to ban guns. I don’t. I think you think I want to revoke the Second Amendment. I don’t.

In a despairing plea for gun control, Golden State Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr, said that “90 percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want universal background checks.” It looks like he’s right.

Maybe we agree on more than we think. Maybe not. But if I’ve learned anything in the last six years, it’s that neither of us is capable of convincing the other of anything. And nothing gets done in opposition to interests with bottomless pockets without an overwhelming groundswell. Even then, it’s a long shot.

With that in mind, why not focus on the issues we do agree on? The bitter retreading and entrenched mudslinging serve only to waste precious time and energy that could be spent building up instead of breaking down. If we disagree on 99 percent of issues, let’s focus on the one percent.

Maybe it’s background checks. Maybe it’s something else. Either way, it’s a start. We can get back to name-calling later.