There are active disinformation campaigns going on. Most have accepted that as reality. The purpose of those campaigns is to sow discord and push sides further away, tribalism, identity politics, culture war. One strategy is replacing logic/science with feelings/emotions.
The right has increasingly become the side that is anti-science, anti-government, anti-education. The right has replaced those things with “feelings,” “emotions,” and “identity” (this is why the right have become snowflakes over the last few years). We see it with global warming, gun control, football kneelers, immigration. The examples are many. Disinformation campaigns have pushed the right further into this place.
However, your difficulty in maintaining a mature conversation/debate on firearms may be the result of this recent emotional/anti-science phenomenon being pushed by active propaganda or it may just be who you have always been.
For example, calling “ad hominem” when someone provides counter evidence or “strawman” when someone attempts to get you to take a clear position, is classic right-wing response grounded in feelings/emotions/anti-science.
My recommendation is to reflect back on where the sensitivity and feelings come from and ponder whether it may be the result of this culture war, tribalism, identity politics being pushed into or population.