Ladies,

Putting on my (hardly ever worn) ADMIN hat here:

I read this thread from start to finish. I have to say that all of you on the forums continue to amaze me. Guns are a very emotionally charged subject and it's clear that many of you fall on polar opposite sides of the opinion spectrum on this one. And yet, despite a few tense moments, the thread has stayed remarkably civil and respectful. That speaks volumes about all of you, and I am so honored to "rub shoulders" with you here on the forums, regardless of your political persuasions. Thank you.

I'm going to ask all of you now to just take a breather and step back from the carry-or-don't-carry portion of the thread, because as has been stated a few times already, it's unlikely that any minds are going to be changed on this particular point. Let's continue to discuss velo's concerns and the very real and very important topics of safety and *feeling safe* (which I think are two separate but similar ideas) while out riding and doing what we love, without any further discussion on guns. I very very much do not want to shut this thread down, because I think there's been a ton of great conversation here, but I will close it if the gun theme comes up again.

Again, thank you all for your intelligent and thoughtful contributions to this thread!

Susan