retrospec | Public Service Announcement: Weapons Laws

Hello. For those of you who haven’t met me, this is Officer Hitori Togusa, Recolle Police Department. I wanted to address the fact that quite a few people have been receiving weapons from Retrospec. We’ve been seeing weapons of all kinds, firearms, bladed weapons, things that you would normally see in a martial arts movie. Secondly, we’ve gotten reports that attempts to get rid of these items do not work. Retrospec has somehow gotten ahold of them and sent them back to users if they are thrown away or confiscated.

So let’s talk safety, instead. Weapons laws are in place for the safety of not just the public, but of the users of these weapons. There are a lot of details to these laws, but I wanted to provide a quick overview for people, so that we can all get through this situation a lot more safely and responsibly.

In short, no, we can’t go around confiscating everyone’s weapons, and frankly, we don’t want to. Especially after last month, it would be unfair to disarm everybody. But people are also getting back weapons that they don’t know how to use, or things they’ve never seen before. So my goal here is really just to make everybody safer in this situation we’ve been thrown into.

Firearms: A lot of people have been getting firearms of all kinds, pistols, rifles, even some guns that don’t fire physical projectiles. For gun ownership, my first piece of advice would be to go to the Deadeye shooting range and take their basic safety course. It is a requirement if you want to register your weapon, which we’ll get to in a minute. But learn how to handle the gun, how to store it, how to clean it, there’s a lot more than just learning to fire it properly.

Registration is a different matter. Retrospec seems to have no consideration of gun laws, so the possiblity that people under the legal age have been handed firearms is strong. In those cases, if there’s a way that the gun can be registered under a parent or guardian, I would very highly suggest it. But, if you want to carry your gun at all, it needs to be registered with the Public Safety Office. As a side note, concealed carry is a complete other matter, and requires an extra course and a background check to be able to do that. Follow up with anyone at the Police Department or Public Safety if you really want to know what you have to do for a concealed permit for a handgun.

But what about those guns that don’t fire projectiles? Despite the name, are they still firearms if they shoot fire? Or lasers? Under the national guidelines, they still count as a ‘destructive device.’ On this one, the law has taken into account that weapons technology is getting more advanced. They still can be legally registered.

What if the gun you got is older, or seems to have a flintlock mechanism? The registration you might look for here would be to register it as an antique, or as a show piece. There’s also a special registration for black powder weapons, and I can’t believe I have to point that out, but I’m trying to cover everyone’s bases here.

What if you got a fully-automatic rifle? In that case, we’re going to have to talk, there’s no two ways around it. Bring it to one of the Officers who is on the application. Again, we don’t want to confiscate it, since we can’t, but we want to make sure these are handled as safely as possible.

Knives and Swords: The good news is that there isn’t an age limit on ownership of knives and swords. There’s an age limit on purchasing swords, but for some reason, once you have it, there’s no problem.

The bad news is carrying them around. Concealed carry is illegal, so if you have to carry that katana with you because we’re six inches tall again and there are rats going to kill us? Don’t hide it. Carry of weapons with a spring-action is illegal, as are ballisong-type folding blades.

Swords also come with their own safety and care, especially katanas, but I don’t know who is the best authority on this matter. If anyone has experience in iaijitsu, kendo, or the like, please speak up, I’m sure there are people out there who suddenly have swords that they would not like to rust away.

Non-traditional blades fall under a lot of the same rules. I’ve seen people mentioning spears? Multiple people? Retrospec, you’ve got an odd sense of humor. Concealed carry isn’t permitted, even though it would be a lot harder with that sort of weapon.

I have to make a last note for weapons that don’t seem to physically exist. Things that exist as a part of a power set, or might be tied to an individual’s spirit. This last month has been very trying for my sense of what is real and what isn’t? But that’s no reason for me to ignore what I’m seeing.

We can’t regulate the powers that people are attaining. We shouldn’t regulate the powers that people are getting. They’re a part of you, you didn’t do anything wrong to get them, and even if they feel like they might be dangerous? Persecuting you for it is absolutely wrong. I can only urge you to try to learn how to use them, it would be your personal responsibility to keep the people around you safe. And it would be wrong of me or any other authority to try to take that responsibility out of your hands. It’s something that you are, not something that you just have.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I’m unwilling to believe that we can’t keep this city safer if we just keep in communication with each other and stick as close to the law as Retrospec is allowing us to.

Thank you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's true. And most people don't realize what it's like to shoot another person.

I know a lot of us have sort of collectively been acting as a support group, but maybe we need to think about something a bit more structured. Once Cleo gets more data from her memory content survey, people with similar types of memories could be grouped to talk to each other more easily.

[btw, thanks Togusa for reminding him he now has a memory of shooting someone in cold blood]

I would think that's a very good thing, and I want to do everything I can to keep it that way.

That would be a good idea, really. Too bad we don't seem to have a therapist on here, or they'd be making tons of money off of us.

Child Soldiers Anonymous. Sounds ridiculous but it might really help.

I See Dead People Anonymous. Monster Fighters Anonymous. Robot Apocalypse Anonymous.

We shouldn't need a therapist to run support groups though, right?

[And Togusa is now laughing very hard on his end. We're back on that Robot Apocalypse thing again. This is amazing.]

Really, no. We could do this on our own, but alas, there is money not being made here. Lost opportunity.

[Robot Apocalypse Freedom Fighter. Embrace it Togusa.]

Maybe we shouldn't talk about what professions would be useful to us. Jim might get even more wonderful ideas.

[On his end Tatsuo is flipping the bird in the general direction of the Retrospec building. Fuck you Jim. Fuck you.]

Hey! Jim! What we really need is some judges! And maybe someone with more authority in the police force like the Chief, wouldn't you like to control them?

And some more lawyers, although Ardyn Izunia is enough for anybody.

You should really add these people to the platform.

[Give Togusa time, we'll slowly get everybody we need to get an official investigation rolling...]

You still think we can approach them from a legal stand point? I mean, not that I think we should go all vigilante on them, but that would require quite a few people from the DA's office, more people from the crime lab, specifically someone good with computers and coding, a judge like you said. The potential piles of paperwork to go after a company are huge. There are lots of ways Retrospec could interfere and make things 'disappear.'

[There is a delay of a few minutes before Togusa's replay comes in.]

Maybe it's naive of me to think so. But I believe it. I have to believe it. You're right that it's entirely possible with more people, the right people. Maybe there's also a way to reveal what they've been doing to the city of Recolle as a whole. Same way they are removing people's memories when they let them go? We can spread our knowledge to other people.

But if we aren't striving for a lawful solution, within the system of justice that we've got? Then what are we working for?

My top priority is on the smaller scale, like I was outlining above. To keep people safe in the day to day, each change that Retrospec makes. But I have to think there's a long term end to bringing them to justice.

[Sometimes it is so very reassuring to Tatsuo how stable Togasu's viewpoints seem to be even after having to put up with the app nonsense for months now.]

No, I don't think it's naive. Super idealistic, maybe. But not naive. I wish I felt 100% the same way instead of only 95%. And it's not because I doubt the system. I wouldn't work here otherwise. I suppose I just trust science more than people sometimes.

Sorry. Sometimes I can't see the individual trees in the forest.
An exponentially growing forest.

There's no need to apologize. It's hard even for me to keep perspective sometimes. I imagine it's worse for you, really. Your team only gets called in when things have gone more wrong than normal.

But all of us help out.

What's the appeal, if I'm allowed to ask? Working the science half of things, rather than working more with people?

Science doesn't lie, not without someone misinterpreting or intentionally manipulating it. Both can happen, but that doesn't mean the science is wrong, just how it was used.

People tend to think of evidence as going toward catching the bad guy. But I like to think of it as supporting the victim. If they're not able to speak for themselves,
the evidence can speak for them. And if they're able to raise their hand and point to the person who committed the crime against them, the evidence can do the same.

That's a different way of looking at it. But you're right. And I like it. I've always seen investigations as getting towards that elusive 'truth' idea. That you're right, there's no lying in the facts, rather than the people's interpretation of them.

That's how you can keep so positive, hunh? We usually think, well I just said it, that the CSI team only sees the worst parts of the job. But if you frame it that way, you aren't going to feel terrible with every case you work.

It's true that we can see some pretty bad things.
And sometimes you get angry at how petty and cruel people can be. But something one of my professors in uni told me and has stuck with me is this. Forensics will always be an after the fact science and we can only work with what is there (or in the rare case what isn't there that should have been there). And if you can't find a way to cope with that, you're going to get burned out real quick. It's kind of like with the fire dept and EMTs. You don't ever want to have to call them, but when you need to, they're there for you.

You had a pretty wise professor, then. Funny how those things work out sometimes.

Question answered, then. I'm glad you've got something you have a passion for, and that fits your world view. Maybe I'm not going to feel so sorry for having to call your unit in, then. All of us are still helping, just working different angles of the same problem.

[It really is a much more positive way to look at their jobs, the intersection and the differences, so the idea puts a smile on Togusa's face.]

[/awkward turtle/ He doesn't think he's that passionate... Even though he likes his job, sometimes he feels like he just stumbled into it.]

Exactly. You guys work the people angle, we work the non-people angle.

Public Service Announcement: Weapons Laws

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