February 21 [aftermath]
February 21
I woke up in Peggy's bed, and I was really confused at first, then what had happened last night came crashing back at me all at once.
She hadn't even gotten under the covers—the last thing I remembered I had been asleep on her lap—and it looked like she'd just tumbled over when she fell asleep.
I lifted her head and put a pillow under it, then since I couldn't get her under the blankets, I just gave her mine. Then I took my journal and sat back down beside her so that I'd be there when she woke. I didn't think it would be right to leave her alone at all.
It was always weird to see that it was the same outside today as it had been yesterday. There's a sort of sense of relief, but it's kind of guilty relief.
I'd just finished up my journal entry when Peggy woke up. She had dark circles under her eyes and it didn't look like she'd slept much at all. She looked pretty miserable overall.
I leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek and she put her arms around me and hugged me and asked if I was all right, and I assured her that I was.
She said that it was a terrible thing that had happened and that there had been no reason for it, then she bowed her head into my mane and began crying until she couldn't cry any more.
We were still embracing when my telephone rang and I was going to ignore it, but she said that I ought to answer it. So I did, struggling with the little buttons, while she wiped away her tears.
It was Mister Salvatore, and he said that he was coming over so we could talk about what had happened last night. The way he said it, I didn't think that there was much room for protest, so I told Peggy and she said that she ought to make herself presentable and she was sorry that she was such a wreck. Then she told me not to leave her, and I said that I wouldn't, so we went to the bathroom together and I stood guard outside the shower, talking to her through the metal partition.
Rather than get dressed, she just put on a t-shirt and lounge pants and I sat on her bed with her until Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn came.
At first, she stood by the door, while Mister Salvatore sat in my desk chair and asked me if I was okay. I told him that I was fine; a little shaken up, but otherwise okay. Then he asked Peggy if she was all right, and she said that she was not all right because she was sick and tired of how this bullshit just kept on happening and nobody did anything about it. She stormed out of the room then, and Miss Cherilyn went out the door right after her.
It took me a moment to react, because Peggy had moved so quickly, but I jumped off the bed and was out the door as well before Mister Salvatore could stop me.
I saw Miss Cherilyn turn to go down the stairs and figured that was which way Peggy had gone, so I took to the air and leapfrogged over Miss Cherilyn. It was a tight squeeze between her head and the ceiling, but I made it. Then I just followed the stairs down until I was right next to Peggy.
I didn't say anything—I didn't think I needed to. Peggy had a look of determination on her face, and I was going to stay with her because I'd told her I would, and I thought she still needed me.
Peggy smiled at me and said that she was going to Christine's and she really didn't want to talk to either of them (I knew who she meant) right now while she was still raw but I could if I wanted.
I turned back and saw both of them following along, although they weren't rushing at all. Miss Cherilyn was talking urgently to Mister Salvatore. I could barely hear them, but she said something about Colorado and he hung his head and slowed down even more.
I knew it was rude and maybe unwise to leave them behind, but that's what I did. Peggy was more important to me.
I don't know what she would have done if someone hadn't opened the door, but Cecilia did and let us in and Peggy flopped down on the papasan and I sat next to her. Pretty soon Christine came out just wearing a long t-shirt and she gave Peggy a big hug. Sean came out of her room also only half-dressed, and then Amanda joined us in the lounge, too.
Nobody really said much of anything: there wasn't anything to say. I could feel how tense Peggy was; she kept clenching her fist on my back.
Amanda looked out the window and asked who the two people that looked like FBI that were standing outside were, and Peggy growled that they were with me, and then she softened and said that we probably ought to let them in before they froze to death.
Christine asked if we were in some kind of trouble, and Peggy said that we weren't, that they were just my minders but the last thing she wanted to do right now was talk to them.
Amanda went to let them into the building, and she was gone for some time. When she came back in, she hugged Peggy and told me that they were both sitting on the stairs by the front entrance. She said that they'd asked if we were okay, and she'd told them that we were.
I don't know how long we sat there. Christine went back to her room and got dressed, and Cecilia brought Peggy a cup of hot tea. Finally, once she was done with her tea, she relaxed a bit and ran her hand through my mane. She told me that I ought to go and talk with Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn and that she'd be fine by herself. I asked if she was sure, and she nodded. She said that she had to talk to the girls, but it was human stuff and there was no need to burden me with it.
I was a bit skeptical, but she was insistent, so I hugged her tightly and then went outside to talk to them. Before I left, Amanda said that there was a lounge in the basement and we might be more comfortable there.
So we went down the stairs and sat on the couches, and if they were mad at me running off like that, neither of them gave any sign of it. Mister Salvatore just looked sad, and the first thing he asked me was how Peggy was feeling.
I told him that she was taking it hard, and he said he wasn't surprised. He said that we'd probably have a lot to talk about in the coming days, and he couldn't really prepare me for what would come up.
Then I asked him why Peggy was so mad, and Miss Cherilyn said that this type of thing happens in America, and it's one of the downsides to it being a free society that doesn't have any meaningful restrictions on gun ownership. Mister Salvatore said that wasn't quite fair, and she said that maybe it wasn't but it was true and he knew it.
He told her that this wasn't the time or the place and the two of them glared at each other. I think they forgot for a moment that I was there.
Then Miss Cherilyn said that America was still a young society and had a lot of problems that nobody really was sure how to solve, and this thing that had happened was one of the consequences.
We spent the morning in the lounge discussing it, until they were both satisfied I understood the two-edged coin that freedom is. It was strange to see the two of them not in complete agreement—I think the murders must have really hit them, too.
I went back to Christine's room once they left. I was curious if anybody was going to go to lunch. Peggy said that she wasn't, because she was sure that there was only going to be one topic of conversation in the dining hall and she didn't want to deal with that. So we ordered pizzas instead and then started up a euchre tournament and spent the whole afternoon talking about anything but what had happened last night, and for dinner we ate the pizza that was left over from lunch.
It bugged me a little bit that I hadn't really gotten anything done all day, but sometimes there are things that are more important than schoolwork. Conrad had said so, and if it applied to the good fun stuff like a road trip to Punxsutawney, then it also applied to the bad sad stuff, too.
Peggy was smiling by the end of the day, which was good to see. She'd bounced back from her grumpy mood at least. She sat down on the bed and laughed and said that she knew it was the weekend when she didn't have to get undressed for bed.
I asked her if she wanted company tonight, and she told me that if I didn't mind, she'd probably sleep better. I thought I probably would, too.
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7132690
You're welcome!
You will!
7132697
Yes; I've already done it once.
7132719
Agreed--uncertainty is worse. At least with a threat you can see, you can prepare for it; when you can't see what the threat is or might be, you can't really do anything.
7132726
They do have heat cycles, but I'll point out for readers who may not have caught on yet, they're realistic Equine cycles, not the fanfic ones that turn all mares into brainless nymphomaniacs every spring.
I also imagine that they've come up with pretty effective contraceptives. They still have the same problem of getting ponies to use them, though.
Silver is a good friend. It made me happy that she's loyal like that. That's how you Pegasus properly
7132764
Yeah, that's one thing I think everyone can agree on.
I suppose it depends on how you want to make their society; there isn't really a right answer. I figure that since they're nudists that automatically takes some of the mystery out of sex, although I can't say for sure that nudist societies actually work that way. Plus, I think some of it is pushback against the far-too-typical clopfic where every mare seems to be a blushing virgin until they finally meet the virile anonymous protagonist (and then they're surprisingly good for it being their first time).
That's a reasonable takeaway from Mr. Cake's stammering explanation of where Pumpkin and Pound came from
Peggy is taking it really hard.
It's nice to see how much Silver care about her.
Another big pack of angst, two in a row now...
7133018
That's a good question. You'll have to wait to find out.
I think the ponies do do this. They seem less in favor of confinement and more in favor of support (generally; there are exceptions). Even Screwy got out of her straightjacket and now lives in a house in town, and it looks like the nurse checks in on her to make sure she's okay.
I think they would react brutally to a pony who they viewed as an irredeemable potentially unstoppable threat, because we know Celestia banished Luna, and I'm 99% positive that Sombra got killed. I could see them executing a rogue unicorn who screwed up too many times, or maybe breaking her horn. But I think as long as the pony doesn't screw up too badly, they prefer to reform, at least nowadays.
7133048
That's true. Probably because Michigan always looks like it's about to give you a high 5.
7133064
Wouldn't it be funny if they were expecting that type of things and had 'friendship' experts waiting on the other side of the portal for returning ponies?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: most of my readers seem to post civil, well-thought-out comments, regardless of the subject matter in question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_a46WJ1viA
7130892
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosuo
An interesting community in southern China. They have very different social norm from what we are used to. While they do have land possession and inheritance, it is family centered. The land belongs to a family. Couples aren't expected to leave the family house and in case of separation, the man isn't expected to take care of any eventual child. In fact, even if there is no separation, the child's uncles are the ones expected to raise him, not the father.
They also have that funny tradition of giving a room with a window to girl when they reach puberty, so that their lover can climb into the room without having to interact with the girl family. He is just here to have fun anyway, no big deal.
And another link that could interest you, about monogamy and humanity, it does fascinate scientist.
http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/monogamy-humans-may-have-been-driven-stis
But why would they be?
For something to be really common in a given population, you need either cultural or evolutionary bases. I fail to see a real advantage for a species to be impulsive and I do wonder what would make it a cultural norm to leap before you think.
I can understand Peggy being angry. Sometimes people react differently to situations like what happened. Some people are sad while others get angry. It may be possible that some people would be stressed in a feeling of helplessness too.
I saw how you mixed Colorado in there, was she in Columbine in high school?
7133059 Don't tell me you think Obama is coming for your guns. Also there is no longer truth and fairness in journalism. Reagan did away with that. Just look at Fox. Single handedly responsible for dumbing down America to the point where trump is a viable candidate. No republican is. That's my opinion though.
Interesting that Silver seems so much calmer than Peggy. I wonder if that's because of the journal format, or if she's just more used to the concept of monster attacks and such...
7133059
Yes, but countries like the UK and Australia have far fewer mass fatalities (and possibly individual fatalities - would have to check) per capita due to violence now that guns are more restricted. You can't honestly tell me that having fewer guns wouldn't reduce people's ability to kill large numbers with them.
I'm from Colorado myself, and live near enough to where the majority of our shootings happen that I've known people affected, though never had to go through it myself. It's one of the more horrifying aspects of living in such a beautiful and active place that we have so many mass shootings. From Columbine to the Aurora theater, to numerous close calls, it really is a harsh lesson in the dangers of how our society looks at gun control and mental health. I think you represented that in a tasteful and open-minded way through teaching Silver about how these things happen.
I wonder if there have been any cases of gun violence involving ponies yet. Somehow I think the US wouldn't have been the first choice for an exchange program.
7133522 Unlikely. As a college student, Peggy would be between 18-22 (forgive me if she said and I just can't remember), and she's probably on the younger end of that.
Columbine happened in 1999, but if Peggy is a freshmen of about 18 years old, she'd only have been a toddler when it occurred. More likely, Miss Cherilyn is talking about the 2012 movie theater shooting during The Dark Knight Rises premier, or the two shootings that happened in Colorado Springs in October and November of 2015 (seriously, less than a month apart!). The one in November was the shooting at Planned Parenthood. Or, hell, all three might be on Peggy's mind.
Me, I'm old enough to remember Columbine in high school. It's kind of impossible to not be affected by that sort of thing.
Anyway, good chapter as usual, Admiral.
7133623 At the same time, despite all the jokes we make, 'shoot it until it dies' isn't standard procedure for first contact.
7133374
7133408
Peggy is unfortunately no stranger to this kind of thing happening near her.
7133522
No; she would have been at most five when that happened, so Columbine wouldn't have that much of an impact on her. Although she certainly would have been aware of it. Aurora, and more recently Colorado Springs, are the ones affecting her.
7133555
Silver's more used to monster attacks, and doesn't really have the concept of mass shootings. Peggy's been too close to too many of them.
7133590
Yeah, unfortunately it's something that happens in the US way more often than it should and we as a nation seem utterly incapable of even rationally discussing a way to fix the problem.
7133623
That's a good question. I don't have an answer--I could see it going either way.
Why not? Despite our problems, we are a great nation. About the only place ponies could visit and be assured that there wasn't going to be the potential of violence or cultural friction would be Antarctica.
7133627
You are correct on all counts. I had forgotten that there were two shootings in Colorado Springs practically back-to-back.
And don't get me started on the almost paradoxical difference in social acceptability of violence and sex.
Especially concerning the arbitrary age restrictions on being exposed to media containing either.
Coming from a small nation with very sparse gun ownership and next to no violent crime, I can't say I know what going through stuff like this is like. But it sounds awful, really awful.
7133623 7133686
I imagine there's probably also a few ponies hanging around European universities.
7133654
See, I personally think that the rules are vague enough that it isn't. The problem of course is interpretation of what they mean by 'highly charged,' or 'description of sexual acts.' When Peggy called the guy at Walgreens a cocksucker, should that have bumped it into mature territory since she described a sexual act?
I'm not saying you're wrong, mind you, just that I personally think that the rules ought to be a lot more clear. Words like 'highly charged' don't really tell me anything, so I guess I just think about what I've read in published YA books and figure that's probably something that safely falls into the 'teen' category.
All that having been said, the story does now have a shiny new sex tag on it.
7133438 I'm not versed enough in the state laws and regulations to speak authoritatively but I know that a lot of shady shit goes down at the big gun shows in Jackson.
I know a guy who grew up in literally a survivalist compound. They used to sell there. Pretty cool guy actually--they basically learned how to be gunsmiths.
You can not prevent crazy, only stop it.
7133704 Thanks; I agree Teen+Sex is the right place for this.
7133686
Or alternatively how many cases of magic-violence have involved ponies? Sombra was the famous one, but in an Equestria where high-level magic seems more common than it does in the show - how many go down the Luna/Trixie/Sunset/Rarity/Twilight/H!Twilight route and snap lose control with potentially terrible outcomes? Sure rule of TV Land Is More Exciting applies, but if you keep the principle that too much magic makes you violent and crazy, and increase the incidents of magic use then... Well at the very least that would lead to accidents.
Is this a problem for your Equestria?
Interesting to note when the Fillydelphia infestation took place and what it says about the timeline here relative to the show. Not especially relevant to the story, but still an interesting datum.
As for this entry... well, these things happen. I really don't have anything constructive to contribute on the topic.
7133438
That is true to a certain extent since purchasing laws vary from state to state. However, even when trying to get a purchase from individuals and doing mail order, there's restrictions in place as well, from making the private owner leave the gun show property to have that transaction and mail order guns will have to have an FFL licensed intermediary to finalize the transaction. It's all convoluted and a right pain in the ass.
Personally, I've been wanting to get a Glock 26 or 27 kitted out with some mods including a silencer for a while now. (I can't decide between a controllable 9mm or the more powerful .40 chamber, though I could convert between either one by replacing the barrel. It's still very expensive at ~$600. And yes, you can legally purchase silencers, though they're very regulated and not cheap.) And a good semi-auto shotgun. Going to get them brand new at retail. The last time I purchased a shotgun was a very cheap ($100) Mossberg from a pawn shop. Damn thing was so bad, the safety broke off the first time I used it.
Had to find a gunsmith to get it repaired. It's why I've been researching this stuff for a while.
In my state, you can be as young as 16 and you can still buy a shotgun and 18 or 21 for a pistol. I still needed a background check for it and I don't know the laws in Michigan.
Most wouldn't know how to use a soldering iron.
Plastic is way too brittle to contain the intense explosions and pressures, especially at the higher caliburs. Plumbing parts would actually work better, but even then, the walls are usually too thin for serious long lasting use and contain very harmful chemicals if you try to cut them. (I used to work at a hardware store and several coworkers would talk about it now and again. Nail guns would make better guns and many already work on using .22 caliber rounds to drive into concrete.)
Nobody does. If they say they have one, they're likely selling snake oil. I do know some of the facts and it's that you can't stop people from committing crimes of passion (the biggest gun killings to people is from suicide) and you can't fully stop people from planning to do violent things, not without incredible invasions of privacy and having a full tyrannical ban happy government. One personal answer I would love to see is to bring back
insane asylumsmental health clinics to deal with chronic mental health problems that often go untreated in the general populace, and you can take solace that the very vast majority are law abiding and mass murders are pretty rare.7133687
That would be preaching to the choir
I just put a sex tag on this story.
Yup, it's okay to watch people killing each other, but the sight of a bare breast will drive children into a frenzy.
7133701
In all honesty, the most awful part is how frequently it happens.
There are, yes.
7133717
Sadly, a lot of shady shit goes down pretty much everywhere.
That is pretty cool, actually. I know a bunch of SCA-type people, and it's always awesome to see what they come up with. I needed a belt-holder for my side sword, and I just showed it to a guy at a SCA event and he took a couple of measurements and then custom-made me one then and there.
7133978
Yeah, I'm not giving any particular, specific time, but it does take place after what we've seen in the show.
7133743
Unless you're a private citizen who rented a booth. Again, that varies state-by-state; in Michigan you need a purchase permit for pistols, regardless of who you buy them from. Long guns, you don't.
I don't know if this is a significant problem at gun shows; there could be restrictions placed by the venue or the county on who can sell guns at a show, and I'd assume that someone who only has one or two guns that they want to sell probably isn't going to pay for a booth; that would be stupid.
And I'm not going to debate that even with all the laws in place, there are still ways for bad people to get guns, or for good people to use guns badly. One of my former co-workers is a convicted felon and he paid cash for a .45 from some guy on the street . . . even though he's not legally allowed to own a firearm. I think that we can both agree that the only way that we're going to eliminate all gun violence is to magically make all the guns and knowledge of guns vanish, and that's not really a feasible plan.
The truth is I don't have an answer. I think that there are a couple of loopholes that could stand to be closed, and I think that we as a nation could probably stand to seriously consider whether certain types of firearm ought to be in private hands and what we could do that would help prevent mass shootings (I'm talking a serious, rational conversation, not a shouting match between the two sides).
That's true, but it's also not a carte blanche for citizens to do what they want. All those freedoms come with limitations which change over time.
Believe me, I know. I work part-time in group homes for developmentally disabled adults.
7134051
i'm happy that it is the other way around here, where i live.
7133704
You would be wrong.
It's not really up for interpretation. The moment you started making jokes about vaginas and pubic hair, and started talking about character A wanting to have sex with character B it crossed the line into teen(sex). If you start describing them having sex in detail, you will have to move it to mature. As I stated before, having her examine his dick is already toeing the line.
No, that is vulgarity. Vulgarity in our society is overused to the point where we have an emotional disconnect to the actual meaning of the words. It is simply taken as an insult, nothing more. This is why nobody responds to being called a motherfucker by saying "No, I do NOT fuck my mom!" It's implied and understood that the insult itself is not literal.
This is why there's a difference between calling someone a cocksucker, implying that character A sucked the cock of character B, and describing in detail said act.
So, are there bets if Aric bit it or not? I mean, we didn't hear anything from him in this day.
Clearly, that means he's dead, right? :p
"America is this place which mass-produces spree killers at an alarming rate, but that's okay because are freedum"
Literally any and every terrible flaw of the American civilisation, at this point, has been defined as a sad but unavoidable result of this "freedom", and anyone who wants to solve them is immediately slandered as "hating freedom".
How such an abstract concept as freedom could naturally and unavoidably cause these problems is never explained.
Neither is it explained how other "free" countries can both be free and not have these problems.
It's not even explained what is meant by freedom, or why freedom, if it causes spree killers, is even worth it.
American exceptionalism just expects you to agree with it without explanation.
"...it's one of the downsides to it being a free society that doesn't have any meaningful restrictions on gun ownership."
Well, it seems safe to assume that she's never tried to buy a gun. America has actually become very restrictive on gun ownership over the past few decades. Long, long ago, in the magical years of the late sixties and early seventies, when my father was in high school, he kept a loaded rifle and a twelve gauge in the back seat of his unlocked car, and would go out an bag a few squirrels or rabbits or a raccoon or wild turkey or some such so that when he went back home, the family had meat on their table that evening. Many of his classmates (of both genders!) did, as well. That WAS a gun-restriction-free society, and nobody ever got murdered. (I looked it up. Our county hasn't had a homicide since 1933, and the last one before that was in the nineteenth century.)
Now, however, there are waiting periods and background checks and gun registries for everybody. And I mean EVERYBODY. This applies even to gun shows (I have no idea where the gun show loophole rumor started, but it's simply not true.) And state and local laws can be extraordinarily restrictive. New fully automatic weapons are completely banned, and automatic weapons predating the ban require insanely difficult to acquire special licencing. Many weapons and weapons accessories, such as handguns and long magazines, are banned or basically regulated into extinction in some areas.
And even if we were still an nonrestrictive society, it likely wouldn't affect events like mass-shootings. Although the sensationalist media plasters these events all over our televisions and smartphone screens, these events actually happen very rarely. They also can happen anywhere -- nations with outright, blanket bans on firearms experience mass shootings too. mass shootings are not more common in America than in other nations. Some nations with laws much looser than the USA's experience fewer shootings. Measured empirically, there actually seems to be basically no correlation between gun control and gun crimes, so apparently guns make us neither safer nor less safe. (Neither side seems to like admitting this.) There is even less correlation when you consider that the majority of murders, at least in the USA, are committed with blunt force trauma weapons like baseball bats and automobiles. Maybe we should require background checks for those things, too.
People have been killing each other for as long as there have been people. Maybe even longer. We can't create a perfectly safe, sanitary world. Living our lives means that we have to accept certain risks. Maybe we should concentrate on identifying people at risk of committing violent acts and showing them compassion, getting them help. American society is terrible at this. Historically, mental illness was seen as a terrible moral failure, and was ignored until it was no longer possible to do so At that point we locked people away and forgot about them. While these attitudes have eroded, their echos still hang over us.
On a much less serious note, I want to point out that even a .50 cal beretta sniper rifle is less powerful than A SNEEZE FROM PRINCESS FLURRY HEART. Like, a lot less powerful. That kid HAS A FLIPPING HOWITZER LASER CANNON BUILT INTO HER FOREHEAD. Assuming that ANY unicorn infant has even a small fraction of that power, it seems safe to assume that your average INFANT UNICORN is at least equal in firepower to a glock. And even as a unicorn, Twilight Sparkle makes a decent stand-in for a minigun when fighting changelings. When she had the power of all four alicorns, she FLATTENED A MOUNTAIN. IT would take multiple thermonuclear warheads for humans to do that. And the earth ponies -- apparently they can turn ROCKS INTO ATOM BOMBS. Did you SEE what happened when Maud threw that thing? Or how she completely pulverized that gigantic boulder in a couple of seconds? Ponies are dangerous! And they also possess cannons and tanks, so the idea of a gun isn't completely foreign to them. Maybe they haven't developed hoof-held muskets yet, and are still limited to cannons, but a cannon is still a gun. A big gun.
And they let Pinkie Pie buy them. And fire them off in the city, over and over. And trade them. Without background checks or waiting periods. PINKIE. PIE.
In America, we suspend small children for going 'PEW PEW PEW' with their fingers on the playground. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. I wish I was, but I'm not.
And finally, completely unrelated to the rest of my post, the parasprite infestation happened when Silver Glow was a filly? Just how long ago were the events of the show?
So there's my rant.
7134292
Are you a mod or story approver?
7133918
And Andora. Seriously, nothing ever happen in Andora.
7133438
7134008
Here's a YouTube account where the guy made a pistol using only common tools (or, a tool he made himself from common tools--his rifling cutter):
Edit to add:
He's starting a .380 build.
7133586
Norway's got us beat in the mass fatalities per capita department, but that's because they had one big event and a small population. Mass shootings are on about the kids-drowning-in-buckets level in terms of numerical risk.
Hmm. I was expecting the gunman to be a pony protester, shooting up places that openly sought out equine clients, and that Cherilyn and Salvatore were going to try and urge her to move "for her own safety". But I see we're going a different direction with this.
7134900
Would you like me to call one? That would risk a mature rating.
7134008
Ain't that the truth.
Both true, unfortunately. Like I said in a previous comment, the only way to completely eliminate gun deaths is to somehow magically make all the guns vanish, along with the knowledge of guns, and that just isn't feasible. And really, the level of federal monitoring would require for every person to be watched 24/7 by a federal agent, and that's a level of intrusiveness that even Orwell couldn't have imagined. Plus, who would watch the watchers?
I work part-time in group homes for developmentally disabled adults, and I can say with absolute certainty that despite our best efforts, the guys do occasionally get away with stuff that the staff misses, including one guy who managed to get a knife out of the kitchen somehow and stabbed another resident. So even having supervision isn't an ironclad guarantee that you'll catch everyone every time.
Even that doesn't always work; for starters, in some states the mental health budget has been slashed significantly, and of course sometimes the mental health issue is only obvious in hindsight.
7134144
I think I might want to move there.
7134421
He didn't. He was in the theatre all day. (You're in the Meghanglow camp, aren't you?
)
7134881
Well, it seems safe to assume that she's never tried to buy a gun.
She doesn't have to--she's a federal agent.
I don't have all the statistics close to hand, and I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert. But I think that the number of gun deaths is too high and ought to be lower. Somehow, we managed to drop the number of annual automobile fatalities from a rate of 29.5/100,000 to 10.3/100,000 (which is the lowest it's been since 1918), or--if you prefer per miles traveled, from a high of 24/million miles traveled down to 1/million miles.
There may or may not be a way to improve the numbers for guns, I really don't know. We're not ever going to get to zero; that's a fact. It would be nice if we did, but that won't ever happen. LIkewise, I can't imagine how we'd ever get to 0 automobile fatalities; no matter how safe and idiot proof you make cars, there's always a better idiot.
But it seems to me that these days the issue has become so highly charged that instead of proposing meaningful solutions, it rapidly becomes a shouting match and nothing is done, and I find that depressing.
EDIT:
As for the power of the ponies--unicorns specifically--yeah. Those there are weapons of mass destruction. One assumes that there is a social and legal framework in place to deal with the horrors a single unicorn can unleash, but perhaps not. it could be that while in the US we're awfully complacent about gun deaths, they're just shrugging and saying 'what can you do?' after a unicorn goes rogue and wipes out half a town.
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I don't even know where that is, so I'll agree.
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That's pretty cool . . . and also out of reach of most people
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Yup, he was just some random guy who decided to shoot a bunch of people. I don't know if he's ever said what his motive was.
7135668 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra
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Aye, I could be. I'm wrong a lot. And that's why I added the sex tag. Not because I think it needs it, but just to make sure that people aren't taken aback when it turns out a fic set in college has brief mentions of sex and nudity.
7135567 Nah, I'm more in the camp that she can bang whomever she wants because she's in college, and probably going back to Equestria after, since it's an exchange program, no?
Have fun! Bang lots of people! Get inter-dimensional space aids!
Getting back to the student side of things, I'd recommend the "7 Up" series. Basically, they had 14 (?) British kids born in 1956 & did a short film on them every 7 years through out their lives. It is my understanding that they all had the same director (Michael Apted) so it is also a review of his progression as a director. If they are having classes in EQ on understanding humans, I'd recommend subtitled versions as supplemental material (Although, this gets into British vs American & THAT is rather a sticky wicket. Does pony culture divide like that, or is it more homogenous?)
It could be a good mark on her record if she suggests material that is accepted for official use. + at higher levels being an exchange student gives her a big boost for Human Liaison Officer. An important rule. Being irreplaceable is a 2 edged sword. If you can't be replaced you can't be fired. You also can't be promoted
As to the arrested room mate. Drunk/high + stupid + naughty + unlucky = busted. 1st law of childhood: Whatever happens it is worse when your parents find out. Could be anything from Public Urination to selling a controlled substance to the wrong person but IMO it is most likely Driving Under the Influence & these days that is serious especially over 0.2 or a repeat offense.
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As long as there are other unicorns in town to stop them, maybe it wouldn't be such a problem? More specifically, if there are unicorn guardsponies trained to deal with that type of threat, they should- hopefully -be able to apprehend "rogue" unicorns before they would cause that level of damage? Also, the Equestrian government at least tries to control access to the knowledge of dangerous spells. Alas, from what we've seen in the show, they're just not very good at it.
But, the vast majority of unicorns don't seem to master anything much beyond basic levitation and light spells either, further mitigating the threat aberrant unicorns pose to their society.
Another thought- This makes me think that this sort of thing is why there are so few (if any) earth ponies in the royal guard. The problems they deal with are often best tasked to pegasi and unicorns, to match flight against flight and magic against magic. Or maybe that's just because, in the founding of Equestria, the pegasi and unicorns were the two more militaristic powers, and would have therefore demanded and been better able to provide representation in the newly formed military, while earth ponies were largely just poor farmers.
"free society that doesn't have any meaningful restrictions on gun ownership"
The word "meaningful" Is the word that prevented me from going into a blind rage. Becuase I agree. If you have said "this country has no laws on gun ownership" I would have been pissed. Becuase there are many, many, laws in place for gun ownership. Particularly in densely populated areas. The reason I agree with you on this is there all meaningless. Many of you may have heard of lots of laws like background checks and waiting periods but if you sat down and closly examined the laws currently in place that actually and regurly effect gun owners they all are one of two things. Either they are baseless laws put in place by overprivledged politicians that have never had to defend themselves once in there lives and only put these laws in place to get an ignorant persons vote. Or they just give the government money
I own many guns. All purchase legally. And I'll tell you that I have never had to wait for a period or have had a background check. However due to an import tax I have had to pay $700 for a gun that would have cost $40 in any other country on earth where firearms are legal to own (even in the UK were guns are highly reguladed I checked prices) it's just disgusting. Now as previously mentioned I lm a huge supporter of gun rights. But I don't think it should be a free for all. I just want laws that make sense. Legit background checks. Lisences that require actually mental contion screening and not wether or not you have $500 in your pocket. No matter what you will have criminals with guns and the only thing this country is doing is taking them away from the victims of those criminals. Back in that isis attack in California I watched Obama's statement and it made me sick to my fucking stomach. Members of a terrorist organization snuck through our boarders through legal channels with illegely imported weapons and killed freedom loving Americans (in a gun free zone, another law we need to thing about) and Obama sat there with the secret service surrounding him and makes it about how we need stricter gun laws. Yeah, okay. Oh and when burnie said " the only purpose of a gun is to murder" I put my foot through my TV. It's statements like these that are killing American citizens and the only place Politicians want to take it is an America where every American citizen is vulnerable. What you said is true, no matter if it was intended or not. I'm not some crazy disconnected redneck living on top of a mountain. I'm a small town citizen working 50 hours a week and still can't afford to move out from my parents house ( I haven purchased a gun in years.) And I don't want just anybody to be able To walk in a shop and purchase a gun. I just want laws that make sense. It's the right of every American to be able to defend themselves. I could go on a lot longer but I already feel embarrassed about how much a rambled. I would actually like to know if anyone bother to read this. So to recap. Dear goverment don't take my guns. Just take them away from people who shouldn't have them. And you won't be able To do that. So give us the ability to defend ourselves from those you miss.
Love -HWB
If you look at it all gun violence is the result of some other vastly flawed government system. I'm so tired of when some kid who was neglected by this parents and is ignored by our under paid and under qualified public school system snaps and shoots up a school. Or some guy fails to keep his family afloat on 80 hours a week with this countrys pathetic minimum wage and accidentally shoot grandma while trying to knock over a mini Mart ( I don't condone the end result of any of these situations please find help before this point) Then the government comes knocking on my door and tells me I better hand over my guns before they strike again.
7135811 This makes me wonder... how is Equestrian magic affecting medicine on Earth? Granted, the treatment for fifth-degree burns in the Admiral's other fic is far too intensive to become widespread, but I'm sure magic can suggest many ways of treating Interdimensional Space AIDS as well as more mundane illnesses and injuries.