I just noticed that amongst all the 'blame the parents' and 'arm the teacher' threads

[tpsbmam]

70. I'm a disabled woman who lives alone & has a 12 lb watch mutt

who I'd defend as much as I'd defend myself. I'm mostly in a wheelchair, using a walker for brief periods of walking or standing (which is an improvement over being 99% w/c bound for a couple of years). I, too, have a house alarm. I say it's total BS that one needs a gun for protection and I'll never own one. I now live in western NC but I grew up in and lived in NYC until I was 30. I lived much of that time as a single woman and never felt the need to own a gun there, either. The community I live in now is probably very similar to Newtown in many ways -- I sure as hell don't feel the need now!

As it turned out, the greatest danger to the murderer's mother was her own damned arsenal. When you look at the stats, having guns in the home for protection turns out to be, statistically, anything but. I'm on a tablet or I'd go get the stats myself -- the Brady center has good stats on the ways in which guns kept for protection end up getting used -- it ain't for protection! I think I remember a stat that indicated a gun in the home was far more likely to be stolen or used on the home dweller than it was to be actually used for protection. That one is pure recall, tho, and could be wrong.

(I'm talking stats, here, gun lovers, not individual instances. Please don't start telling me how aunt Millie saved herself from she big guy who broke in her house!)