So, my 86-year-old Mom phoned today about gun violence.

[passiveporcupine]

16. guns that kill people are not all in the hands of terrorists

But you knew that. You see, Adam Lanza wasn't a terrorist, just a mentally unstable person. His mom might not have bought so many guns if she had to insure them all...and if letting her son use her guns might get them taken away. She might not have gotten into the whole gun thing...which I suspect she did only because her son showed an interest in guns. I guess she found out the hard way that not everyone should have a gun in the house, even if they are mentally fit to own one.

that is something else that needs to be taken into account. Guns in the house might only be licensed to one person, but all members of the household who might have access to those guns should be checked out before a gun is issued, or the guns need to be stored in a safe "gun safe" (not the kind that can be opened by thieves) only the owner can access them. And they should require fingerprint ID or some other biological ID that only lets the licensed owner unlock them, not a key.

In Adam's case, not even fingerprint ID would have worked. He would probably just cut her finger off to get to the guns. Except that he would have had to kill her some other way because he wouldn't have had a gun to use.