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I am very, very sad.


LadyInWhite

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I was trooping at a news event for a great cause this morning... when air-time was preempted by this horrible tragedy in Connecticut. I cried in my bucket and am still crying and sick to my stomach.

 

My heart goes out to all the families and victims. As the mother of a young child, and a child at heart, I carry so much empathy and sympathy. We have brothers and sisters in that region whose lives will no doubt be touched directly or indirectly, and healing will be slow and challenging for entire communities.

 

I expect there will be a lot of scrutiny and politicking about gun control, even if the real issue here is something else, like early detection in mental health and social services. I suspect this may affect laws and policies in the entire nation. This may affect how or when we carry our prop-weapons as well. I will not be surprised if people become hyper-conscious of weapons particularly in the vicinity of children. This is very important considering how many of the charities the 501st Legion supports that are dedicated to children's needs and welfare.

 

As many garrisons already enforce, always remember to be conscious of how you carry, point, or use your weapons in public or private events. Never point a weapon at a child and don't be afraid to be vocal about not feeling comfortable doing it if a parent or even another costumer "insists." As children's heads are often level with our firearms, think about pointing upward or at the ground, or simply keeping it holstered. Instead of across your gut, try diagonally toward your shoulder.

 

I really hope we do not have to worry too much about this issue, because we are all responsible adults. But just in case, be aware of the sensitivities of people around you, and the policies of your locality and the event itself.

 

This is me speaking as a human being, not as staff or in any official capacity. It just seems common sense.

 

May the Force be with us.

 

Ingrid

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Events like this are very sad indeed.

 

doubtful that this has any effect upon the legion, as we all do know that our mission is the safe and responsible representation,

handling of our costumes, not only our blasters, but our bearing as well, shares very little with these kinds of events.

 

I understand any concerns this may cause, but we all know that blasters have little to do with situations like this.

we should always follow the legion standards when present at events.

 

my heart goes out to all of the victims of senseless violence, not only in this case, but in every case, my prayers go out to the ones

who have lost their lives for no apparent reason, only that we do live in a violent and ever changing world.

 

we always have our prayers, and our hearts to follow to show us all the best way to represent charity.

 

May the force be with all of us.

 

plus one for me ingrid! we're with you!

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I'm still at a loss. It's beyond my comprehension that someone would commit violence on innocent children. My heart bleeds for their families, and I'm hugging my kids tighter tonight.

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Was on the news here in Aus when I woke, couldn't believe children were involved, just don't understand what some people have in their heads, it's just senseless.

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Yes, my heart aches for the families involved with their losses..uncomprehendable..my niece is in Kindergarten, how could anyone harm small children of any age..WTF!? Sorry for the curse, but that kind of crap doesn't sit well with me. Thank you Ingrid for sharing your thoughts on this post. Mark..I'm sorry for your loss as well brother,take care. Charlie

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Thank you Ingrid.

As a father of twin boys that are the same age as those taken from us yesterday, I am devastated. I was holding up OK until I saw the picture of the kids being escorted out of school and the fear and confusion on their faces. I lost it.

 

I do feel I have to get two things off my chest and I feel like the FISD community are my friends so I will vent for two points.

 

Two things I found disturbing about reactions to this tragedy:

1. People jumping on facebook and using it to push gun control agenda. (Not you at all Ingrid, I'm just assuming everyone's facebook has the same posts I am seeing on mine).

2. Media interviewing those kids. "Were you scared?"..."Did you hear the gunshots?"

 

To return to Ingrid's point. I am new to trooping as I was approved in July and have only had 8 troops so far. I always carry my blaster for pics and hold it across my chest or aim it up in the air. When kids want pictures taken I can never holster it fast enough so I typically end up leaning forward and hold out a hand for a high-five while I move my blaster around my back and hide it from view. This seemed to work well in the past but I think it will be awhile until I am personally comfortable walking around with it at all.

 

I would encourage people to be aware and use good judgement.

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There are idiots that will blame the guns used in this horrific crime but the guns were just a tool. What it all comes down to is this is about a severely disturbed person that was allowed access to the guns (a violation of EXISTING, under enforced, laws BTW) and most likely not allowed access to proper mental health care. There will always be crazy people, and there will always be senseless violence. That is, sadly, part of life. The attacker in China used a knife. are we going to ban knives? Let's focus on getting proper treatment for the mentally ill in our Nation.

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True dat, Evilboy.

 

As a person with mental illness, I can say that I've had some pretty weird/scary thougts before. Luckily, I'm able to participate in counseling and take suppliments to keep myself balanced. Which is hard in Japan, since I think some doctors would still try to treat mental illnesses with leeches. The FB posts about gun control made me sick, because they're not looking at the root cause. It's like trying to treat the flu by treating the cough. It's just one aspect of the larger issue. We need to better understand mental illnesses--not just in America, but all over the world. This tragedy hit my wife like a lead weight, since she was an elementary school teacher before we moved to Japan. There are no words for how I feel about it; nor for my wife, I'm sure. I hope that the families can try to find a way to cope, and keep a rememberance of their sweet, innocent kids that were taken from them far too soon.

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I heard the news last Friday morning, I only just got home from dropping my 3yo daughter off at her school (she attends preschool at an elementary) and I was quite shocked when I turned the TV on for some news.. When I heard the stories of how people were waiting for their kids and that by the time the last child was united with the it's parents the other parents were told that their kids did not survive, I fell in shock. I immediately made the connection to my own daughter, asking myself questions "what if I was standing there, waiting for my daughter and she wouldn't come out?".. Needless to say I couldn't exactly keep my eyes dry, it hurt me so much. And it still does when I think about such a situation. I cannot imagine what those people must go through, such horror :(

 

The rest of the day, and most of the weekend actually, I had a heavy heart. Thinking about what happened there. We had a troop the same night, and two more the day after on Saturday and I have been seriously doubting whether or not I should go to those troops because of my emotions. Eventually I decided I should go, that it would matter twice as much to give the kids there a great time, to make them smile and make them happy. And it did matter, for the kids but for me too.

 

Ever since the event I have not seen any anti-gun posts on FB and elsewhere because of what happened, the only posts related to the event and guns where pro-gun posts and that kind of confused me because, "why was everyone all of the sudden posting so much about that guns were not the issue? Did anyone say it was? Why would anyone say that? Isn't it obvious the guy just went crazy? Isn't it obvious he could have gotten a weapon elsewhere if guns were banned? Didn't they hear about what happened in China with that knife incident, that there were no guns involved in that incident?" And so on... well, no anti-gun posts until one person started yesterday with anti-gun posts and then it became clear to me that it must have happened more over the weekend, that I was simply blessed to have either missed it or have people in my list who are wiser than that.

 

I'm originally from the Netherlands, guns are banned there as some of you may know, and not just a little bit either, even the props we use, such as the E11 blaster, are just as much banned as real weapons. But even there, if someone wants to, it would not be hard at all to obtain a weapon. I know this first hand, not because I ever sold or bought one, but simply because I did see certain things when I was still in school... yes, there were guns in school in a country that has guns outlawed to the max.. then why would these idiots think a ban in the US would actually make a difference? And even if the US were to successfully ban guns, there are so incredibly much weapons around already, both legal and illegal, it wouldn't make a difference anymore.. no difference at all, except for those who want to protect themselves against those idiots who already have weapons and cannot get any weapons anymore.

 

Having said this, I also seen quite a few people call for teachers to carry guns. And while I agree that it might make a difference (although I do think it cannot be proven if it would have mattered in this case, or in any other case, simply we never had it at hand and simply because it is one thing to carry a gun but a whole other to actually aim and shoot it at someone, even in self-defense), I am quite reluctant to say teachers should have guns. Reason for this is simply because it could also make matters worse. Now, they probably wont have much going on with the students in elementary but in high schools or universities, it could end up quite dramatic. When I was in high school, and likewise in college, I have seen many a teacher go pretty crazy because of some students who pushed their teachers to the limit. There was even one time where I could easily say that if that teacher had a gun, I might not be sitting here to write this reply. He went totally ballistic. And sure, he got sent away from school but, if he did have access to a weapon.. I don't know, the results might have been quite dramatic. Or what to think if a madman runs into a school, shooting around him, he might very well kill a couple of kids before he could even be gunned down himself. The damage would, although less, still be done. He shouldn't even be able to get near the classrooms. No, if there have to be weapons in schools to stop these things, I'd rather see armed and trained security guards at every school entrance (this creates extra jobs as well, guess that's an extra plus). I know this would change the whole climate drastically but I think it would be safer for everyone involved. Bottom line is, I am not against weapons and am against any ban that some people are talking about, but I do not feel teachers should carry guns as that would create a lot of extra risk as well because of the stress some of them have to endure. Even if they have proper training, there might still be someone who could go crazy. And that's what this really is about, and should be about: 'people going crazy'.

 

Like so many already mentioned before me, both here and elsewhere, the mental illnesses are probably one of the biggest issues that we see here. I once had a girlfriend who was suicidal and, well, just not all there at times. A perfectly nice girl if you know her but she did have her moments. It took her a long, very long time until she finally got her doctors that far that she had to be admitted in a hospital setting, and when she was there, she was released way too early.. even I, someone without medical background, could easily notice not much was changed. No, they simply didn't want to work on her anymore since the insurance stopped paying. And that's really wrong there, doctors who admit people too late and kick them out of the programs (if they even get in) before they actually should. There is no proper care, and that's what should chance first.

 

Anyways, guess that's a bit my take on the whole discussion that's going on everywhere..

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