You're right, a lot of the responses were very emotional in nature but it's certainly understandable why people get upset at things like this. We mind our own business and just want to share pictures and info on our hobby and passions. We do so on a website that used to parade itself as a place where censorship wad not permitted. Then something happens not even related to reddit or r/guns, and we get told suddenly that we can't have an AR with the logo on it. It's silly and inconsequential at the end of the day, but it's the principle that upsets people. We aren't like the people at coon town or any racist subreddit, we're just a group of people who love guns and like showing them off and it comes across as punishment for guns suddenly being a hot issue in us media again. Maybe it's poor timing on the admins part, but other posters here are right. If they don't want their logo used then it needs to be universal, not just because a majority of mods don't like guns or don't want heat because there is a gun culture here. It's unfortunate that we continued to be associated with things we had no part in and deplore, but when the mods come to us and say we need to censor something that has been there without issue for a long time then yes, it's going to ruffle the feathers of people who believe in freedom from censorship among other things. Does it make the responses appropriate? Absolutely not, especially the violent and angry hate mail that came from it. That doesn't change how we feel about the principle of it though.

If anything sticks with you from my comment or this episode please let it be this, that behind every angry poster or gun owner there are thousands of us who don't react that way and can articulate why we believe it is wrong without resorting to violent rhetoric. That logic can be applied to any group of people at almost any time, so I just want to leave you with that thought.