"Loyalists making it very clear that the guns will NOT be used in retaliation, and that they, like the Republicans, are committed to the political process.

Peace
Don T"

Rather 'generous' of those loyalists, eh? But if they were really committed to the political process they wouldn't HAVE any guns to make such 'magnanimous' gestures with, would they?
There was a lot of hullabaloo about republicans decommissioning over the last years, yet we still have two loyalist groups (certainly one at least whatever rumblings the other made) holding onto their arsenals, despite a string of murders - still unsolved, over the same time frame, and no real pressure for them to disarm. If loyalists can argue they are hanging onto their guns because they fear a resurgent IRA then dissident republicans could argue they are hanging onto theirs in the event of a resurgent crooked security force. But then neither of them would be committed to peaceful political means which seem to be the only long-term way out for N.I