A gun in the home is far more likely to kill someone welcome inside the home than it is to kill an intruder. At about the time children are close enough to adulthood to be able to bypass all of your safety mechanisms and find your hidden places, they are also able to feel adult emotional distress--and suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young people. Suicide attempts with guns are almost always fatal, and are often a result of an impulsive decision, so you wouldn't necessarily have seen your child depressed or expressing suicidal ideas beforehand. As for self-defense, about one out of four women will be sexually assaulted in some form in her lifetime. I was, and so were several of my friends. All of us suffered sexual assault at the hands of men we knew. Guns would not have helped. Teach your daughters to be strong, assertive feminists--to have deeply positive self-esteem, treat themselves with respect, to demand respect from others, and they will be far less likely to be chosen as victims--and if they do become one, they will be far more likely to publicly identify the perpetrator to their friends and to the authorities. Unlike most of the women I knew who never reported the incidents out of shame. The way toward a peaceful society is through peace. It's through assertiveness, working together for a better society and trusting each other in the process, and taking away the means of violence. It is not through weapons that are manufactured and sold explicitly to kill human beings.

I do not believe in gun ownership. I will admit to not understanding why hunting is interesting at all, so even that level of gun/rifle ownership baffles me. I would rather we raise our children and citizens to not harm each other based on respect rather than the fear that they might be concealing a weapon under their coat.

It is always fascinating for me to listen to/observe/participate in a discussion regarding firearms. Growing up in a small town in rural Wisconsin, everyone had guns. School was closed for a week every November for deer hunting. Hunter safety classes were offered in school. I never encountered anybody who felt that guns were the hideous, grotesque weapons of death and destruction they are now made out to be in the mainstream media and urban culture. The bottom line - IMHO - is that in America we have the right to bear arms. As a citizen, you can choose to have a gun in your home. Or, you can choose to not have a gun in your home. It's nobody's business one way or the other and people shouldn't be looked down upon because of the choice they make regarding this issue. We have guns in our home. They are properly locked up. I do not worry about my children's safety regarding the guns because we will absolutely teach them what they need to know when they reach an appropriate age. I respect all the women who talked about wanting to self-defend themselves with their own hands, strength, etc. That said, if someone is breaking into my home with the intention of doing anyone harm, I would much rather rely on one of our firearms than my own reflexes, coordination, etc. Just saying.

@Kristian - I have to disagree with your assessment of me based upon a five-minute video clip. @honeymommy - Agreed. That being said, there were some things left out because of time constraints which I've written about here, including some stats regarding accidental gun deaths. I hope the discussion can continue as amiably as it has thus far without any ad hominem stuff. The latter is a total mellow-harsher!

I, personally, won't have a gun in my home. Guns make me nervous; I've never shot one and I don't ever want to, and my husband has never shown any interest in guns, so it's not something we've had to discuss. It makes me terrified to think about what can happen when people aren't responsible in keeping their guns locked up (Karen's story), but even when people use them for self-defense, it can go horribly wrong (quick story: my friend's brother was shot--and killed--by his wife when she thought he was an intruder... he was a doctor coming in from a late shift in which she thought he'd be gone all night; they had two young children). Right there are two terrible stories that show even when people are trying to responsible, accidents happen. However, another story: a family member of a friend was stuck in New Orleans during/after Katrina, and she lived alone and rode out the storm alone. About the second night of sitting in her attic, she started hearing gunshots... looters were nearby, busting into houses and (from what she could hear) killing people if they put up a fight. That is one instance that I'd be HAPPY to have a gun because she was safer in her house than in the flooded streets, but not if someone came in shooting! (Even then it would be a case of who's the faster draw or being outnumbered.) She was airlifted out of there before she had a face-to-face with looters, but she came home to a ran-sacked, soggy house.

GOD NO! I don't want guns anywhere near my son. I don't even want him to have toy guns. Guns do nothing but perpetuate violence. For every well-intentioned Dana type out there, who carries a gun to defend themselves, there are 10 other people who carry the gun to defend gang territory, to kill someone they just don't care for, to shoot up their school, etc. The results of conceal-to-carry legislation vary greatly by region. In some places, sure, people feel secure, attackers think twice. But in other areas, guns end up in the hands of short-tempered criminals and with a conceal-to-carry law, they can whip it out when you accidentally cut them off on the freeway. I HATE GUNS. It's no surprise at all that we have the 2nd Amendment, but also more shooting deaths than any other developed nation on earth. I grew up in rural Wisconsin, and we had a lot of guns in our house for deer hunting. But, even very young, the whole idea of guns bothered me. The idea that by carrying one you are supposedly defending yourself, but the thought process behind carrying one in the first place is an offensive move. He (or she) who has the gun, has the power. In theory, for it to be fair, we'd have to give a gun to everyone. Including the mentally unstable, and children. Not a great scenario. On top of that, the only person I know who has died as a result of a gun shot was on a hunting trip and ran across another hunter they ended up having a disagreement with, and then they were murdered. Also should be noted, I live in a major urban area. Not in a suburb, IN a major city. One neighborhood over (meaning like, 4 blocks away) are one of the city's most troublesome projects. And I am still not comfortable at all with the idea of carrying a gun to defend myself from what may be. Let's say that I did carry one in my purse and someone did threaten me. I'm not sure I could ever even fire the thing. It would be so much more likely that I'd meekly pull it out, they would take it away from me, and I would be killed with my own firearm. I am not a fan. Sorry Dana.

My biggest issue is this: I might trust myself with a gun, but I do NOT trust ANYBODY ELSE with one. There are crazies, people with violent tendencies, and all manner of other people I would NOT want to have a gun with which to potentially do harm to others. I am deeply uncomfortable with that risk. Have you SEEN...people?? Only slightly secondary is this: I'm a pacifist. I'm not going to brandish, threaten, fire, or anything else, because I don't believe that we have any business carrying guns around. I can only control my own actions, so I choose to shun firearms and work toward strong gun control. Self-defense, schmelf-defense -- unless I also went through advanced training, far more rigorous than I'm willing to devote myself to, it would be much, MUCH more likely that a gun would be taken from me and used on me or my family. No.

Kinda annoyed that so much was edited out of this one. Will be blogging about this later over on GirlsGoneChild but I wanted to reiterate what was cut from my piece in the above video and that is: THREE of my friends lost their lives in High School and after because of guns in the house. Two were accidental. One was suicide. I grew up in upper middle class suburbia where everyone lived gated existences. There was NO REASON to have guns in the house. None. If gun control existed, I would have three friends alive. PERIOD. Another point I made that was cut was that my husband was carjacked three years ago a mere three blocks from our house. Had he pulled a gun out on the dude who pulled a gun on him, he would have likely been shot. Using gun as defense seldom works to defend. Guns used as offensive weapons? Different story. To me, it all comes down to fear and teaching our children to resist it. I will be educating my children to live peaceful lives. To love. And respect. And stand up for themselves in ways that are empowering.

Oh and one more thing that was also cut out of the tape! I ADORE Dana REGARDLESS of the fact I wholeheartedly disagree with her on this particular topic. The chick is awesome and I have much respect for her being the token rightist in our crew. That's all.

Dana, I am with you 100%. Gun control laws don't mean anything to bad guys. Period. So, if "gun control" advocates can manage to get all the guns away from them, then sure thing honey buns, you can have my firearms as well. Criminals don't part with their guns. Ever. Therefore, I won't either.