[mousepod]

I have lots of peripheral experience with guns. Working in the San Francisco Sheriff's Dept office (and the jail), I come in contact with many people who legally carry firearms every day as well as people who are currently incarcerated for illegal possession or use of guns. I work with a deputy who shot and killed a suspect who was threatening the life of his partner. I've fired guns (on a range), and I've been held up at gunpoint when I lived in New York.

Through the years, I've become more centrist in many of my beliefs, because I always try to keep an open mind and approach each situation and experience for what it is.

That's why using the Virginia massacre as an argument for or against gun control makes me sick.

In the big picture, both sides have points, to be sure. But realistically, this event was a unique and sad event, but no more. It's no more proof that gun control works than it's proof that gun control doesn't work. Within hours of the shootings, there were pundits on television proclaiming that the real culprit was the violence that young people are exposed to on television and in video games. If the interpretation of the Second Amendment is up for grabs based on one sick kid, why not toss the First Amendment into the mix, too? Bah.

Guns scare me. More guns scare me more. I've never been aware of any "well regulated" militia, except maybe that of white supremacists or survivalists, so that scares me, too. I've never made the choice to own a gun. If my neighbor wants one, I'd hope he makes the same choice, but I wouldn't know. I support the debate in theory, but I wish that the loudest arguments on either side weren't so maniacal.