[Ranylyn]

I realize my opinion is unpopular, as I straddle the middle of the road without taking a side. But I prefer to think of it as a less biased viewpoint from which to make decisions. Long story short, I'm not a supporter of guns but I'm not an abolitionist, either. Much like Diz, because I care, I'll put it in a spoiler tag for anyone who'd rather skip it. And I also apologize if I seem irate since... yeah, like Diz said, the rampant arguments in OOC are getting to me, heh. I think I managed to keep it together for this, though.

I've always found "more guns makes more safety" to be nonsense, myself. As if having teachers packing heat would prevent a school shooting, for example. (If anything, I think it would increase the risk of one person snapping and going postal; either a teacher lashing out as their students, or a student stealing a gun.)

At the same time, I have a friend who's a real gun nut and collector of all kinds of fine arms, and after hearing about all the safety courses and licenses (He needed many, many courses and tests for various things, ranging from long gun to concealed carry, etc. Sure, it's Canada, but I can't imagine it's all that different south of the border, despite not doing research before making this post since I'm checking the forums on a break from housework and I don't have time) it's also not like I think there's not enough being done to legislate and regulate firearms, either.

Sure, there will always be isolated incidents of idiots not locking their guns up and the kids finding them, but those incidents could have just as easily been things like children getting electrocuted from playing with electrical outlets and plugs, if parents are being careless fools who shouldn't have children in the first place. I've heard some states allow you to keep a loaded pistol on the dresser, which seems fucked up, but again, I haven't checked for sure to confirm or disprove this statement. What I do know is that everyone I know with guns keeps them in a safe. And they don't even tell me where the keys are, just to be safe, even though they'd trust me with their credit cards.

Having gone to a catholic school, one poster that stuck with me was "If you're big enough to push someone around, are you big enough not to?" Having taken Jiu-Jitsu lessons in my youth, we had more discipline drilled into us than fighting. And honestly, I think most gun owners are probably pretty okay people, to have that power and not exploit it for personal gain. Sure, if they get really desperate, they may turn to crime to get by, but if they can afford the guns and ammo in the first place, they're decently well off to begin with, at least above the poverty line, so the odds of that happening are lower than someone who was already poor to begin with turning to crime.

Where am I going with this? Basically, there's good and bad people everywhere. The core issue isn't about guns. Someone who wanted to commit a crime like that would have, if they chose not to try to acquire guns illegally, still gone ahead via other means, such as lighting the place on fire, starting with all the exits. But, I'm also against making guns more available as well; only those proven to understand safety, maintenance, and discipline should be allowed to have them. The last thing we need is every idiot packing heat.

With all that out of the way, I'll leave off with two fitting quotes from two of my favorite video games. The first is due to the fact that this crime was at a gay bar, and summarizes my stance on all people, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, or lack thereof for all of the above. The second is something I feel people need to keep in mind when discussing possible changes to stop this from happening again.

"Everyone has the same heart. Everyone hurts when they're rejected."
- Lloyd Irving taking a stance against discrimination, Tales of Symphonia

"Radical changes bring unwanted distortions."
- Ankiseth Gallant warning rebel soldiers of unforseen consequences, OgreBattle64