Fandom High Weapons Poll

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

[OOC: ATTN: This is non-binding, non-official (although some official types thought it might not be a bad idea), and just to see what's actually what out there in the school. Vala's name is only on it because we needed a paid account (I'm so weak!) to post from.

(Remember: principalconnor rules this place with her Scary Iron Fist Of Doom, so what she ultimately says is what actually goes.)

Please answer IN CHARACTER (As a FH issue it's locked to FH members, sorry Townies!) ]

ETA: Question two, where it reads "magic users", it should read "people with magical/superpowers/mutantpowers/etc."

ETA2: Any mis-votes can be fixed by just "re-voting". It will only count your last answers.

ETA3: Anything I (aka_vala) posted in comments below with the "FH ate my life" icon are OOC, and my mistake in spacing the fact that comments are IC. My bad, please ignore. :(

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[Poll #579502]

Comments

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

The concept of responsible weapons use gets lost in this shuffle too. As if there's no middle ground between "I have a gun and I'll use it on anyone who pisses me off, possibly taking out random bystanders" and "I understand both the consequences of carrying a gun, how to make sure it doesn't do what I don't want it to, and under what circumstances its use is appropriate."

That said. There are some hella appropriate circumstances at this school. Zombie attack? Big check. Locker 327? Oh, would I *like* to have had my gun when I fell in there last week! Squid monster gets the munchies? Sorry, Professor Drusilla, I'll take a gun violation over being your pet's lunch. Use of a knife to get out of a booby trap planted by yourself your roomate? Check.

Random menacing comments from certain assholes in the student body? UNcheck. That's what Rover and Principal Connor are supposed to be for. Disagreement over the last slice of pie in the caf? Insane, and uncheck. (Talk to the chef.) Juggling in Study Hall? Impressively stupid, and uncheck.

See? We can be taught.

At least those of us who've *had* gun training and weapons' familiarity drilled into us do. As I understand it, a lot of these rules were put into place *partly* because the student body is adolescent and unstable and, *drumroll please* unfamiliar with the mores and laws of Earth in some cases.

Others have backgrounds which, while Earth-based, make them feel infinitely more secure with *some* kind of weapon to hand. For some, allowing them a weapon they can use responsibly is both easily proven and simply a precaution. Others, yes, can not be trusted; but they are *individuals*-- not the student body as a whole. Taking away their weapons does not make them more secure or reasonable. Counseling, time, and understanding can do that. Taking away their crutches and replacing them with *nothing* just makes them more willing to take chances, or find ways around the rules. It doesn't make them more comfortable with the unfamiliarity of fellow students with powers and intentions they don't understand.

Understanding and training in the limits of weapons use will not turn the student body into an army of Mini-Rambos. Being allowed the *priviledge* -- subject to the oversight of the school-- of carrying a weapon, and proving we can do so responsibly, will not automatically lead to gun and knife fights on the roof of the gym. But unless and until we are assured that our school environment provides *no* threats to our physical safety (from even the School Lounge Guard, who has gone walkabout for the third time in as many weeks), and being deprived of what many regard as the necessary means to ensure the safety of ourselves, and other students, is not only incomprehensible, it is indefensible.

Very few at this school are typical adolescents. Please allow us the opportunity to prove, within new strictures and guidelines, that we deserve to learn while protecting ourselves in ways which, within our own frame of reference, are neither extraordinary nor dangerous.