roo4 & Irulan,

Good question. Being totally frank, I'm not sure I have a good answer. Full disclosure: I'm a "free speech and open, frank discussions are good for us" kind of gal, so my natural inclination is to put as few limits on topics as possible and trust everyone to be civil and thoughtful in their discussions. But, I guess I see multiple angles, some of which lead me in the opposite direction on this particular topic. Here's my thinking:

On the one hand, whether or not to *legally* carry a gun while riding isn't really "off topic" to these forums. Whether we like it or not, it is a legal thing to do throughout most of this country, and so a discussion of the merits of carrying or not while riding our bikes is a legitimate topic of discussion on the forums.

That said, discussions of this type rarely stay on topic. They tend to devolve into heated & emotional discussions of gun control laws, whether guns prevent or cause violence, etc., and *those* types of discussions are most definitely NOT on topic for these forums.

Soooo, where does that leave us? I guess the middle ground would be to approve a CLEARLY LABELED thread in Open Topic (Non-Cycling Related). Something along the lines of "Hot Topic: Carrying Guns While Cycling". (Yes, it's on topic, but we all know its going to stray, so might as well resign ourselves to that fact and put it in Off Topic.) I would just ask that everyone try to remain civil while expressing their opinions and remember that it really is hard to convey thoughts and emotions in written form. Let's try to be respectful of one another, even when disagreeing. It would sadden me greatly if feelings were hurt or people left the forums over an off-topic subject because they felt they'd been insulted or disrespected. It's happened before. Sometimes those people return to the forums, but sometimes we lose them forever. The women's cycling community is small enough as it is, that it would sadden me to see these explosive topics drive wedges between us.

Other thoughts on this? I'm open to ideas.

Susan