my congresswoman was shot today

[Trek420]

I have a healthy respect for aka fear of guns, would never have one in my home, nor knowingly be in a home with a gun. And yet I agree with your right to arm bears but I also feel that right ends where my right to be safe begins. It's complex and hard to balance too.

I train in Aikido, I'm a nidan. I've had to "use it" a few times. Once in an attempted rape, got out of the chokehold, pinned him, held him down till help arrived, another time another stranger threw a football block at me to drill my head into the pavement, I did a back roll and came up in a fighting stance. This was not what he expected to happen. He ran away yelling "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm ....", then on a night train a guy robbed our compartment, found him on the train, put the dude in a chokehold, retrieved our luggage, threw him off the (very slowly moving at the time) train.

It's also come in handy taking a fall off the bike.

I never ever ever ever ever want to "use it" again. Aikido is something I will always do although I'm taking a break right now. If tomorrow I wake to a world with no need for self defense I'll still want to train. I do it for the love of the art, and because every so often I get a technique right. It's a joy.

I'm sure there may be gun owners who feel the same about marksmanship, skill, expertise.

But I entirely agree with this:

What happened is appalling. My heart goes out to all who are affected by this horrible tragedy. It's our mental health support that failed on several levels, but it's not going to be easy to fix.

We have failed as a country with mental health. We have to remove the stigma of needing, seeking, using, wanting care. If you knew someone needed care for a medical condition you would not hesitate to recommend they see a doctor. The same should be true of mental health. I'm not blaming the school in any way but instead of "go away till you can prove you are sane" it should have been "here's our clinic, GO!"