I hope I can say what I am about to say without offending anyone...well, nobody will probably bother reading it anyways...

weapons, have always been around since the beginning of human history. Before they found the spear heads, they were using sticks, rocks, fists.

weapons, have always been an evolving process.

I practiced martial arts as a child, I did it back then because I wanted to fight back. They taught about honor and how to defend yourself. But I was angry at the time, I learned it so I can kick those people's butt that picked on moi.

then I got out of it for about 10 years and have just recently in the past two years started to practice again, but from a different perspective (if you're still reading, bear with me)

These days, I got back into sword fighting. I've always loved swords. But I don't think about killing. I think about the art form behind it. I think about how it is an extension of me. I think about how it helps me relax and control my body when I am ticcing...I think about honor...not about killing or hurting others...

honor, is something that is both innate and taught. One can be born with an honorable heart but it needs to be shaped and formed and regulated.

I think weapons and honor should go hand in hand.

During WWII, Japanes soldiers raped many women, from young children to the elderly. They killed almost 250,000 people and did most of that by bayoneting.
They then burn a lot of them alive, they bayoneted pregnant women and raped them and then split them open and took out the embryos and eat them.

I am not saying this to degrade the Japanese folks. I have friends that are from Japan and they are wonderful folks.

That was a war and that was what it was.

so, my point here is killing can be done by any means. People have been strangled by towels, people have been killed by knives, people have been stoned to death.

IF someone has it in their heart to kill, they'll find a way, no matter what.

If someone has honor in their heart, you can put a nuclear warhead in their hands and they will not fire it unless it is absolutely necessary.

Samurais had that code before WWII, a lot of them were taught honor system. But when they enlisted folks that were farmers and criminals and uneducated during WWII, those were of the majority and they did the killing without honor...

For me, personally, I don't care for guns. I can't even hold one without shaking. But I understand the need for it. Da wife and I were out looking at properties one day and almost got shot at. This was last summer. But that guy was a nut. The policeman that came had gun. He needed it to protect us.

The argument is always that if it the gun is not there, it won't happen. I don't agree with that. I think the Columbine shootings would've just been columbine bombing or Columbine slashings.

We live in a community where this is hotly debated, those that are for guns and those that are against guns. We have friends of both sides.

But for me, personally, it goes back to having honor. If I was to ever meet Av8rgirl or curious and they carried a gun, I would NOT be afraid of them wanting to shoot me. If I was to meet KM, I know she would be a woman of honor and will not try to slash me with a knife or punch me with her fist.

I think the circumstance of this homeless woman has a lot of variables...

1) we don't know why she is homeless. I've known people that are homeless by choice cause they are truly lazy and enjoys a free meal and didn't mind sleeping on the streets.

2) I would suspect that she was mentally ill. I would then blame the system. Why wasn't she in a hospital or in a mental facilaty where she needs to be, to be treated rather than being on the street?

3) Reactions, if I was a policeman and I just saw someone shoot my partner and she still has a gun. I would've reacted the same way at that given moment. My heart would be pounding, my hands would be sweating, my adrenaline would've surge all over me. I would've only had a split second to react cause I wouldn't know if she would've shoot me, or another by-stander or not.

Perhaps the woman that the homeless woman approached could've been more tactful or more patient. But who knows, she might be having one of those days that her father or husband is dying, or she just found out she has cancer. And she did the right thing, IMHO by calling the police because that IS the policeman's job. To serve and protect. Forget about corruptions and why some of them are jerks. Every job has it's bad apples...

it was tragic that it had to end this way. That policeman's family will suffer, this homeless woman's family, if any, will suffer, the cops that shot her will have to live with their decisions, and the woman who called the police will have to think about if she could've approach it a better way.

But, in a scenerio such as that as it happened. We are all individuals and we have to make the decisions that we all have to live with. Mentally ill, honorable, homeless, cancer, or not...every decision, is an individual, unique decision...

OK, I know you've probably fallen asleep now...that's OK, I wrote this for myself anyways...

can I just say that I respect both sides and have shared my own and let's not forget that this thread is about killing oneself with gun?

If there were no guns, those that want to kill themselves will find another way...but once again, that's just my opinion. Cause my own preferred method has always been the bridge.....