My brother and I were raised with a loaded gun in literally every room of our house except the bathroom and my bedroom. My father was a police officer and avid hunter. We were taught proper gun safety at an early age and it was never an issue... with us. MY concern is, and always has been, that I cannot depend upon the fact that EVERYONE that enters my home will have the same gun safety education I have had.

There are steps you can take to make it safer for guns to be in your home. Seperate safes for weapons and ammo etc. I personally have never wanted them in my home. It's just a risk I'm unwilling to take.

My brother on the other hand is an avid gun collector. A few months ago there was a horrible incident in his home. These are men in their 40s, not young children. They were having a gathering at their home with 3 other couples. One of the men had asked my brother to see his collection of handguns, he was planning on purchasing one and asked my brother his opinion etc (he was the only one of the group that did not serve in the Marines with my brother). My brother took a variety of handguns from his gun safe, ensured that they were not loaded and allowed his friend to look them over. They discussed the pros and cons of each gun then another one of the men in the group noticed my brother's new guitar and the two of them went over to that area of the man cave.

In the mean time, the man looking to purchase a gun asked the other friend in the group how to load the glock. This individual was a 42 year old man, trained by the military and an auxillary police officer went to the gun safe, got a clip and showed him how to load the gun. He ended up shooting the man looking to purchase the gun when he removed the clip and was "clearing the chamber."

None of them will ever be the same. The man that was shot will live with a piece of the bullet lodged in his spine for the rest of his life. He may be able to walk again sometime in the future. My brother feels terribly guilty because he didn't close the gun safe to prevent the other man from getting at the ammo, he wasn't paying attention to what was going on in that area of the room. It was his gun. The man that shot him will have to live with the fact that because of his carelessness another human being will never be pain free again.

In all honesty my brother didn't think he had to watch over them. They were all grown men, they all knew gun safety and were comfortable around guns. Too comfortable as it turns out. He never thought in a million years that something like this could possibly happen.