Yep, we're out there.
Not only on DU, but on DailyKos, where I post often as "Leftie Gunner." Every time gun control is brought up on DKos, the threads run about 1/3 rabid anti, 1/3 rabid pro (that'd be me, among others), and about 1/3 "well, it doesn't do any good crimewise, and it hurts is on Election day, so just drop it".
Pro-gun liberals (I am one... so is Markos Moulitsas) scare the heck out of both old-line Dems (who are mostly very anti-gun), and Republicans (who fear the loss of a great election issue.)
We don't get much support around here, though...
And really, the front lines of the gun debate are over on the left-hand end of the bell curve. The traditional Conservatives were always on our side, and partisan Republicans (as distinct from ideological Conservatives) knew a winning issue from day one. Those buckets are about as full as they're going to get, and we are where we are. Expanding our gun rights isn't going to happen by writing off the left and waiting for some mythical mass shift to overall Comservatism. The only way it will happen is by bringing more liberals over to our side on this issue.
Shumer, Kennedy, Feinstein, et al... they're a lost cause. But they won't be around forever. If we can bring the up-and-coming generation of Democrats at least partially on board (remember those ratios I talked about) and hold what we've got for the next 20 years or so... we'll win.
I and many others are working hard to bring that about. We're having more success than you may realize. The chairman of the DNC had a top rating from the NRA. 20 years ago, that would have seemed crazy, but it's true now. Not only that, but the majority of the rising stars in the Democratic party are pro-gun. Brian Schwietzer, Bill Richardson, Jim Webb, many others. If you care more about gun rights than party advantage, the majority of us here who are Conservatives will help us "Leftie Gunners" in that endeavor.
--Shannon