fandomhigh | Study Hall -- Wednesday, September 28th

Welcome to Wednesday's study hall. I'm in a considerably better mood than yesterday, which mostly means none of you will be getting set on fire today. I reserve the right to threaten you with it, though. You have no fucking idea how entertaining the looks on your faces are when I do that.

*grins wickedly and takes a drag off her cigarette*

The announcements for today --

-- Biff is missing once again from the front of the teachers lounge. If somebody could find that stupid goddamn bear and drag it back, I'd appreciate it. (I won't be rettaching any limbs you might lose, though. That's your fucking problem, not mine.)

-- After the events of last weekend, I'm thinking of lifting the weapons ban. I'll be opening up a discussion section in the comments for those opposed and those for the weapons ban to hash out any differences they might have, any requests they might have for licensing or policing those who wish to carry their weapons, and any other problems they might wish to discuss.

-- Parents Weekend will take place on October 28th, 29th, and 30th. For the record, you may make one new RPG journal for whichever parent, guardian, relation, or mortal enemy you might wish to bring in for your character. These characters cannot already be enrolled in the school or exist in town, and if you can find someone not already involved in the game to play them just for that weekend, all the better. However, these characters will not be allowed posting access on FH or any related communities, they will only be allowed to comment in designated threads -- open houses for classes, the Halloween dance, etc. They're only here to visit for one weekend, folks -- they won't be hanging in the dorms or taking classes or anything. Also, teachers will be allowed to call parent/teacher conferences with any of their students they might wish to meet with (or any "parent" they might wish to interview ... *snerk*).

(OOC: Also, for the record, I'm not playing John Connor anymore -- I've passed him off to someone else. Now he can get a little more play, the poor antisocial bastard. :))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Defining weapons is a good idea, but banning half and leaving others with natural 'weapons' seems unfair to me. And what are you going to do? Throw those students out because they can do magic or what else it is they can do?

"So why do you need a weapon? Why not make unarmed combat classes mandatory? A gun or a sword isn't going to do much good unless you're really good with it, and if you're not, it's far too easy to hurt a bystander.

We're left with our 'weapons' because we can't take them off. That doesn't mean we get to blithely go around rampaging, it means we're watched far, far more closely than you 'normal' people. We all know what will happen to us if we step out of line - the Principal made that expressly clear to us before we enrolled. Plus, if we step out of line, it's much easier to trace. Someone's exsanguinated and has puncture marks somewhere? Vampire. Someone's turned to stone? Me. Someone's harmed by magic? Limited pool of who it could be and the faculty has lists and would interrogate all of them.

Contrariwise, someone dies by a sword, how do you even begin to figure out who did it? Guns, slightly better off but even easier to foul the trail on - just ask any of the forensic experts on staff.

We also take exception to the insinuation that because we have innate 'weapons', the nats feel they need weapons to protect against us. Show me somewhere that one of us has threatened or harmed another student using anything but normal human physical prowess. We can show you an example where a student was harmed by a gun, completely by accident."

"As noted by Spider and Connor... the security system here at Fandom high is everywhere. Any shots fired/puncture marks/sword fights mad by an individual will be sure to taken notice of and be recorded for Rover to review and for Connor to consider said person's punishment."

The weapons are against things like those zombies we ran in to this weekend. It's not about using them against each other. I never claimed anything else and I'm not about to either. I'm saying that the same sort of control can be and should be excecuted on students with weapons.

And let anyone who owns a weapon get a sort of weapon locker only they can access.

If anyone who has a weapon doesn't have a weapon locker that only they can access, that's...wrong. If it's not on you, it should be locked away.

*nods* I agree. Weapon lockers are a must.

Why do they/you need magic? Why do they/you need a mutant power, a soul-bonded sword, a bad attitude, or martial arts abilities?

What's the difference? All of them can kill, but only those with guns are being targeted.

It could be they were 'targeted' because they were the most vocal and visible and demonstrating the most potential for violent use?

It's fairer to take measures to those who were overstepping the line than just taking actions against everyone because one or two individuals don't know how to behave. Wasn't this whole ban started because of one person?

*shrugs* Probably. By then, the hysteria was building. There was a student who was bunkered down with guns, in defense of someone, because of rumor. Where was it going to stop? So, maybe they (the administration) just jumped the gun *snickers at funny* and banned them all before people started to dig fox holes?

Robert Heinlein said an armed society is a polite society.

That sort of breaks down when someone with a gun does something impolite. It ceases to be polite and becomes vigilante. Who are we to enforce law and order?

If a system of checks and balances can be put into place for all weapons bearers, this may all be a moot point.

Just thinking outloud really. Coach Ash says he's getting something together to hash all this out.

*nods* No, you're right. There needs to be some sort of control, but this was more of a "one person does wrong and everyone gets punished" sort of situation. Coach Ash seemed to have some great ideas so I'm curious what he comes up with.

It's a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation. If the administration had cracked down on just those that 'did wrong', what's to say they wouldn't have turned around and started pointing to others saying 'they get to keep their guns, why are you taking mine? they pulled theirs/threatened/shot theirs too! it's so unfair!'

Sort of like now, actually.

Because they would have been acting against the rules? It's kinda normal to get your toys taken away from you if you disbehave.

Yup. It's also human nature to whine about how unfair it is too.

*grin* We're armchair quarterbacking now, though. The administration did what they thought was best at the time and the fact that they've opened the floor to discussion means that at least they're willing to rethink the decision.

Now it's up to those who cried the loudest for it to show the decision to reinstate the guns/weapons policy isn't a bad decision, if done.

To bring all this back full circle to what I've been saying to others, this would involve showing responsibility for them and showing good judgement in their use and in their care. Not in saying they want them back because they fear another segment of the student population with a 'well...they have weapons too! if they can have them so should we!'.

We all fear 'the other guys' in one form or another, so the argument breaks down in its rationale and logic.

*grin* You've been fun to talk to!

*smiles* So have you and I think I agree with what you're saying. I think most people seem to be agreeing actually. Last weekend couldn't have been a better proof as to why weapons might be needed.

*grins* And you did some great work then too.

((Ooc: Confused. Is this comment in character or not? My comments are entirely in character. Half the things listed aren't things the characters had a choice in.))

Study Hall -- Wednesday, September 28th

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