While the world was dealing with Newtown, Conecticut; my family was planning a funeral for my husband's mother. It's one thing to deal with a death that you are expecting and hoping to put off for awhile longer and quite another to deal with sudden, senseless deaths - 27 times over.
I grew up around guns. Our neighbors had them. My family owned them. My father, uncles and brothers used them. We owned BB and pellet guns. We used other people's guns. We went target practicing. We lived on a vineyard in the summers and the farmer had an automated shot gun system that set off rounds regularly to scare varmints away from the ripening grapes.
Guns were visible in the homes I visited as a child. I knew not to handle a gun without supervision. I was given target practice lessons in both guns and arrows as a child. I could hit what I aimed at, but I never was spectacular at shooting.
The one prevailing lesson impressed upon me was that there are rules when it comes to handling guns, and if there is a rule you NEVER break; it's the rules regarding guns.