demonstrating that all the "good" reasons for having guns in the home are fantasy (hero envy).

My husband decided he needed a gun, police officer in charge begged him not to. He explained how a gun could put us in danger or someone else if it had been stolen. He advised to get a taser, or big dog. Unfortunately we had to put our dog to sleep a few weeks before, we know they would not got in if Lucky was here. They did take off with his spear gun [ Scuba] that was in garage, but it was broken.

I always come back with "then why do you carry a gun?"

I know that isnt a good equivalency, but what the officer said only holds true if you choose not to do the proper research, get training, and maintain proficiency.

Police officers have no special powers when it comes to gun- in fact much of their training is not really that "in depth" as well. As one police instructor told me (NYPD instructor) Recruit gun training is very similar to Drivers Ed in HS- it gives a strong foundation in which to build skills on. The only way to build those skills is with practice and experience. He always tried this point to recruits

"then why do you carry a gun?".

Sounds like you have a lot of interaction with the police.

and the majority I have interractions with are pro-gun

and because i know what you are insinuating so I'll be completely direct- The reason I have so many interractions with police are numerous. First, 5 of my friends are current officers, 1 is an academy with 2 others in the process of applying to Law enforcement jobs. Second I also happen to be a firefighter and not only do we interract with Police on scene, but they also use our firehouse as a sort of resting area for breaks and meals during shifts.

I have said that statement exactly twice- and both times the response was along the line of "my job is dangerous, criminals have guns, I have training...etc". Again, most of the officers I know are pro-gun or are "in the middle" when it comes to gun control (agree with more controls but feel its reasonable to allow people to own guns for hunting, target, defense)

On edit: I used to work at a gun shop as well where I had a good deal of interraction with police and police firearm instructors. It is also the reason why IMO police firearms training in non-gun familiar areas is severly lacking. I have had dealings with a significant amount of officers (mostly females- this is not to say that female officers are good with guns, this is just my experience) who don't know the 1st thing about proper firearm ownership (not able to properly maintain the weapon, unable to handle it safely).

So logically if the people with the most training shouldn't have guns, then the people with less training shouldn't have them either.

You truly are better off with a dog or taser.

If my house is ever burgled, I'm likely to be away or asleep. The burglar is awake, the cop is awake, and I'd be looking for my glasses and then try to get coordinated enough to aim. Doesn't seem to make sense for me.

a big black Lab. Once he was away with us, and once the robbers just maced him. Each time the intruders made a mess of things but nothing of real value was found to take (It was really the only way my (minister) father was willing to get a new TV - to replace the one that was stolen)
Don't know about a taser, the dog didn't help, and I doubt a gun would have been any use: One of the times it was a troubled friend who needed $ for drugs and we sure wouldn't have wanted to shoot him!

The whole house was tossed. The officer taking prints said they were probably looking for guns. At least I hadn't supplied them with a weapons cache!

notes on the damage got to my younger brothers room and exclaimed "Oh man! They really hit this room!"
At the same moment my brother pushed past him and said "Whew! They didn't touch anything in here!"

Gotta love the power of social media to distribute/promote good media.

I did a little research on the stats. This is rough math, but close enough to make the point rather clear.
Every time you see a gun shop, think about this number, about one death per gun shop every 16 months.

Gun violence in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States