I am a gun owner. I'm a single woman who lives with her two dogs in an area that was once pretty rough. I work in my studio late into the night in a fairly secluded area in the country, so I also have a conceal/carry permit. I consider myself a liberal and a Democrat and I am proud of it. I, and many like me, have been called just about every ugly name imaginable and blamed for this tragedy simply because I own guns.

I understand that emotions are running high right now. I understand there is an urge to do something, anything that will prevent tragedies like this from happening again. But here's the problem, if people on this site can't even talk to each other about guns in a civil manner, how is this country going to be able to have a debate about what should be done? You will not be able to change people's minds by calling them baby killers and wackos. It's not going to work. Hell, just hearing that talk on this site is making ME more resistant to talking about gun legislation--and I don't want to become more resistant.

I always asked if their were firearms there and felt no compunction about it.

I will never perceive gun owners as victims of gun control advocacy. I do blame gun proponents for these tragedies, for making gun manufacturers profitable, for putting anything before the safety of innocent people. I do and I won't change and I will never apologize for it. When you (anybody) can guarantee you will never have a devastating emotional or psychological crisis, and that neither will anyone who enters your home, then maybe it will be less than immoral to have a weapon designed only to kill and maim in your personal possession, IMHO. Otherwise, you reap what you sow.

Asking if the parents have firearms

but whatever you (or I) feel or think about the 2nd Amendment is immaterial. The individual right to bear arms has been upheld repeatedly by the SCOTUS. Don't see that being reversed.

seriously, just read it.

you're wrong to broad brush gun owners, though I think often your description is accurate. I mean the usual suspects are digging in their heels.

My heart bleeds like Bernie's, but I have loved ones -- proud progressives and proud skeptics no less -- who live in the country and use a couple of guns as tools. They're not assault rifles. They're not machine guns. They're not semi-automatics. The idea that they would use their guns to harm our family's younglings is as unimaginable to me as the idea that I would ever be a right-winger.

I fired guns a few times in my youth. As a result, I gained a healthy respect for them, yet I didn't freak out at the mere thought of them.

When TV bombards you with images of homicidal maniacs on TV series, movies, and news stories, you're bound to have a fearful response. You should go to a shooting range and meet real people who just happen to enjoy using guns. Then you wouldn't have that "gut reaction" you describe, because you would see that most gun owners are just everyday people who share a hobby.

I don't want a gun around, simply because I'm too accident-prone. And I think the NRA is extremist. But my past experiences aid me in viewing the gun debate without fear influencing my thinking.

Poisoning the well.

Not to say that every single extreme anti-gunner is a troll but it's my opinion that a lot of them are.