“I have a .380 auto at home. That’s a sexy gun. I wanted a body stopper, so I got a Smith & Wesson 1911 .45-caliber. I’m a pretty good shot. I can empty an entire clip into six inches. Consecutively. Head, throat, heart, gut. If you’re within 50 feet of me, I’m going to take you out.”

For most of us, that is terrifying.

Illinois has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. The ban on concealed carry was recently overturned, but you still can’t legally get a gun if you’ve been convicted of a felony or domestic violence, assault or battery or if you have a history of mental illness. We have a 72-hour waiting period for hand guns. Gun sellers must keep a record of the sale for 10 years.

Compare this with Arizona, where the man quoted above was buying a SIG Sauer p226 9 mm, according to the September article “Guns ‘R Us” in GQ. Anyone over 21 who legally owns a gun can carry it almost anywhere without permit or license. You can buy an assault rifle at 18 and a pistol at 21.

And these gun owners — conservative “gun nuts” — are scared of us.

At first, the fear seems unimaginable, especially in a state where media and gun control legislation seem out to get gun owners. As scared as some of us are of gun owners, gun owners are scared of those who want to take their Glocks away.

This mutual fear needs to stop.

“Do not patronize the passionate supporters of your opponents by looking down your nose at them,” former President Bill Clinton said Saturday.

He’s right.

If we want meaningful gun control, both sides need to cooperate. We need to understand each other’s positions.

Most of the students at this University grew up in a liberal Midwestern state with a gun-free culture. Most members of the media do not own guns, nor do they understand them on a social, cultural or even technical level.

Without knowledge of gun culture, we only see its flaws. This leads to gun owners fearing that the scary “liberals” in the east want to take their guns away.

We don’t. We want to take guns out of the hands of criminals and people who will walk into a school or movie theater or grocery store and open fire.

Until both sides can realize this, no meaningful reform will be passed.

Gun owners don’t want the events of Newtown, Aurora or Tucson to repeat, and neither do we. However, politicians, lawmakers and much of the media won’t understand that unless they try to. Understanding diversity simply requires a willingness to learn, to seek answers and to realize that you can see eye to eye on something, even if each side comes from some place different.

To anti-gun crusaders, we ask: Do you own a gun? Do you know someone who owns a gun? Do you understand why someone would want a gun? We ask because until these questions can be answered yes, reform will be stagnant and mass shootings will continue.

So go outside, find some gun owners and have a meaningful conversations. Don’t worry, they’re more scared of you than you are of them.