Wow, the Internet is fucking horrific today, huh. Thank God I'm getting on a plane to see friends.

The whole country is just stuck in a terrible hopeless loop of "It's not going to stop til you wise up," and we are never going to wise up.

I think gun ownership is an identity issue for a lot of people and that makes them very suspicious of any mention of restrictions. It seems like there could be a place for compromise in terms of responsible ownership like requiring secure storage of guns and allowing more time for background checks, but not with that kind of suspicion. On the left I feel like there's a tendency to frame gun regulation as a fight against the gun lobby without appreciating that there really a lot of people out there who are genuinely passionate about access to firearms.

I actually have been in a half way decent exchange with someone on FB. It was surprising because it started out not so great but it's someone who is still saying banning certain types of guns won't work but is for some types of gun reform. But he's stuck on the - banning certain types of guns won't make the shootings stop. I don't think it will stop completely but I think making it harder should be a first step and I'm trying to get a response on that. I'm also going to really encourage him to talk to other gun owners about advocating for gun reforms like universal background checks and other things he mentioned and that he vote for people who also support those things.

It isn't much , I guess but it feels like.. it's something to have this conversation.

A few years ago I got into a long Twitter exchange, trying to find common ground on the idea of more liability for irresponsible gun ownership, but couldn't find it. In the end, he just felt gun laws were already far too restrictive.

Well this guy started with the whole "people talk about changing gun laws but the only thing they can come up with is just banning guns" and I told him I have thought about this and I do have ideas and I listed 5 of them which he didn't seem to object to.

And later in the exchange he said he was for universal background checks (which I mentioned) and also raising the age limit for owning guns (which I hadn't). So there is that.

E's mom killed herself with a gun. He knows now that she committed suicide but I don't know if he knows how it happened. But there wouldn't have been any way to stop her from getting a gun even with the kind of restrictions that I've thought about.

Any kind of restrictions would be helpful because it would mean fewer guns out there overall.

Most people do support some restrictions! It's just the people in power who are bought by the NRA. Fuck everything. [link]

I am so sorry, people. This is... I have no words.

This is such a stupid thing I just have to laugh. I am trying to get reimbursed for my mileage for driving to our other site for the Town Hall yesterday. This is a totally standard thing, we have a set amount of miles between the sites, and because expenses were part of my duties when I was in accounting I well know how very very routine it is. And, you know, normally my commute is 4 miles round trip so an extra 35 miles really makes a difference to how often I need to buy gas. Anyway, my supervisor is still too new in her job to know what she can approve, I guess, and our VP is not answering emails, but she and I talked and she said she'd go ahead and send the approval and if he doesn't like it we'll deal with that when he says so. She copied me on the approval email, so I also see the reply 15 minutes after that to her previous email saying to please wait until she can talk to the VP, confirming they will hold the reimbursement pending the approval. Which she just gave. This is so much rigmarole for $20 that I am definitely entitled to!

Timelies all!

Continually depressed by the news.