This is a terrible tragedy no matter what all the discussion on this board is about.

The gun debate has been gone over and rehashed many many times. Had this person been carrying a gun he might be living and the guy that shot him might be the one in the news. Its very easy to sit and pick this situation apart from the safty of our desks and computers, and to throw out genralizations about the incident and the gun debate at large.

My opinon would be on the side of carrying, while at this time i dont carry i have taken defensive shooting courses, i have grown up and been educated around guns all of my life. I see them as a safe practical tool for getting food, or to put some holes in paper for a fun day at the range, and i also can understand the their usefulness as a defense item. I think that alot of the people who stray away guns and think they are "inherently bad" really dont know a whole lot about them. I think they are fed the 1 in a millon news stories through the media and lets face it the media itself is very anti-gun. Its easy to form opinons on things before really understanding them, i am not trying to single anyone out here or start any arguments. I think that a responsible citizen carrying a gun is a good thing, i think there are people in this world i wouldnt want to have a gun but for the majority of everyone i know that has a CCW permit i feel perfectly safe around them. I think that as with biking the more you dont know about the subject the more you are intimadated by it.

Now that i have stated my position i think cycling with a gun does have some advantages. We are very vulnerable when we are riding, and it is true that sometimes we do have to ride in the dark, through bad neighborhoods/parks/parking lots. I live in a fairly small city and it isnt near as bad here so i can imagine some places being alot worse. I also work as a corrections officer at the county jail so i meet some people. I see alot of these same people when i am out riding, its interesting to know the history of someone you are just passing along. I have ridden past someone who attacked someone with a machette, i have ridden past a guy who spent years in prison for selling cocaine, i have ridden past a guy who needs very strong anti-depressents and other be-cool meds something tells me he wasnt getting too many of them while he is on the street and he may be a bit "unstable". I have ridden past a guy who attacked and attempted to **** a 15 year old girl who was jogging on the MUP. My point is there are people out there who arent like the average upstanding citizen (us). I happen to know a little bit more about them then most people would, but really what keeps someone like that from trying anything on some random person?

Obviously nobody that carries a gun WANTS to use it, it would be a terrible situation where i would have to use deadly force in self defense. It would be nice if we were able to count on police at all times however its a sad part of our society that we cant. Defending myself is not something i would like to ever have to do, just as crashing my bike is something i would like to never do, yet i wear a helmet.

So in closing, this whole thread was started about an tragedy that was started into a whole gun debate. There are clearly issues on both sides of the debate and i think its something that can only be broken down to an individual choice. Individualy i choose that i want the option of carrying one with me, some wouldnt agree and i respect that, just as my choice needs to be respected.