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Oh wow. We don't own any guns either. I'm resistant because I was robbed at gunpoint when I was a teen. I still get scared when I see a gun. My DH wants to get one.

DH wants to get a gun for safety reasons however even the thought of having one in the house scares me.

We don't have guns and will not be getting one.

We own guns... well DH does. I didn't always like it but I see his side of it too. He works in a job where he sees LOTS of bad things. It's really not a big deal for us anymore, I barely notice. We will be teaching LO gun safety, definitely!! They are locked up in a safe until then...

DH has guns. I've been pretty clear on my standards of safety to him and he knows what they are and follows my rules about them being unloaded and locked up. We'll definitely be teaching LO about gun safety. I guess I didn't think about telling people if their kids come to our house but I probably would.

I grew up with a few guns in my parents' closet and I knew never to touch them.

I don't understand why the gun was loaded if they were just examining it? What a horrific tragedy.

I wouldn't have thought to ask about guns in a home.

Just another story supporting why I DON'T support gun ownership. For everyone that swears they keep theirs locked, etc, etc, there seems to be a story like this.

We live in the country and DH is a hunter so we do have a few guns in our house. They are currently locked in a cabinet but once LO arrives, they will be moved to a fireproof steel safe. The ammo will be locked up separately.

I grew up in a house with guns as my dad is a hunter and often went target shooting as well. The guns were never thought of as for protection, and were ALWAYS locked up in a steel safe and the ammo was locked up separately. My brother and I had NO WAY to access either safe. My dad was also really big on proper education. I was never interested in learning to shoot but my brother was, as were a couple cousins. My dad would spend a lot of time with them teaching them proper gun handling, how to tell if a gun was loaded, all that stuff before ever taking anyone to shoot at a range. He is the epitome of responsible gun owner.

I grew up six miles from downtown Detroit and my dad never felt he needed to keep a loaded gun in the house for protection. A loaded gun is a deadly weapon and needs to be treated as such. I agree with @mrbee that there needs to be penalties when things like this happen. tragedies like this reinforce the need for education on responsible gun ownership, including storing and handling guns properly. This whole "this is my right, you can pry my guns from my cold dead hands" thing is getting ridiculous. Does someones right to keep a loaded gun handy superseded another persons right to life? I just don't see anything in that story that makes any sense. Why did the guns need to be loaded?

Anyways, those are my thoughts as a person who grew up with guns in the house and has guns currently. I personally do not like them, especially pistols, but believe that with proper education and storage they can be owned responsibly. I don't know how we will deal with it when LO is older and has friends visiting though. Where we live, a lot of people own them, but I would hope that I know the parents of LO's friends enough to know about the safety of their home.

We own guns and I don't know of a single family we are friends with that doesn't have at least one gun in the house. Often, way more than one gun. For us, our guns are in a locked cabinet, unloaded, with the ammo locked in a completely separate part of the cabinet. Our children will definitely be taught about guns and gun safety, what to do at someone else's house should a gun come into play, how to ensure the chamber is empty, etc. This will be long before they attend hunter's safety in 5th grade.
I know lots and lots of people with lots and lots of guns (they get in your blood- once you have two, they kind of multiply) and I only know of one person who has ever had any kind of an accident and that was because the gun malfunctioned and the barrel blew up in his hand.

We don't own guns.

We have guns. Quite a lot actually. Hand guns, shotguns, rifles, etc.

I've never met anyone who has been accidentally shot, or knows anyone who has and I don't know anyone who doesn't have a gun in their home. 3/5 people at my work right now have a gun on their hip.

Children and guns are 100% fine in the home together as long as
1. they are taught not to touch guns, ever.
2. they don't have ignorant parents who let their children play with them, loaded or not.
3. they know that it is a serious thing and is not a toy
4. they do not have access/knowledge of where the guns are.

DH wears a gun everywhere he goes. Once I get my permit I will have one on me as well. I would rather be on the firing end of an attack than on the side of someone getting robbed/raped/beaten/etc because I couldn't defend myself.

I'm so over this gun control debate though. People who support gun ownership always will regardless of media coverage (people have been shooting each other since the beginning of time, this is not a new thing, the media just decided to focus on it). People who are against gun ownership always will be, regardless of how many people own guns vs how many people get accidentally shot by them. I wish people would just drop it. It's been just fine forever, why all the commotion now.

@MrsTiz: OMG, I can't imagine feeling the need to carry a gun with you everywhere you go. Are you living in a war zone?

We do not have guns and will never have guns. I don't believe that hand guns are necessary for people to own. None of our friends have guns either. A few of them like to shoot, but they go to the firing range for that and rent.

Mr. Hedgie and I both own a gun. We don't plan on getting rid of them either. Now, we will have a bio-metric gun safe because I feel that no matter how much gun safety you teach a child, accidents still happen and they should not have access to guns or ammo. I plan on teaching my children about gun safety and the dangers associated with guns but hey are NEVER to be used as toys. I wont even allow toy guns into my house, period.

I'm pretty new to gun ownership. DH wants it for range and sport shooting and does have a shot gun. We currently just have it sitting in a closet, but just got a gun safe for it that will be hidden and not accessible to kids.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: @Honeybee: So neither of you would ride in a car or go to someones house that owns a gun? It's so interesting to see how different it is in different parts of the US! You guys could never leave the house here lol!

@Honeybee: That is really interesting to me, you live in such a gun friendly environment and are so cautious! Have you always lived there?

@mrbee: your friend is a strange person!

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: right now, we only visit my parents' house, since my sister does not have a gun safe. My parents lock up all the guns/ammo/etc... in a shed that is not accessible to the kids. Mine are also pretty young (1 and 2.5), so they're supervised all the time. As the kids get older (or if my sister decides to get a gun safe) we'll revisit the issue.

Personally, I'm not opposed to guns at all, but I think the more exposure you have, the higher likelihood you could be involved in an accident. So when my kids are exposed to guns (obviously I'm not going to keep them away from their grandparents), I want to make sure it's under the safest conditions possible.