Naomi - //I've simply said that I own a gun and I don't believe people who acquire guns specifically for criminal purposes apply for licences. //
OK, let's call a halt on the sniping, you know we give up on it eventually -
but to make a serious point about your post re. gun ownership -
I entirely agree that there are vast numbers of sensible gun owners in the world, and I have no doubt that you are one of them.
But look at the case under discussion here - a young man whose parents have allowed him not only to possess a gun, but to sleep with it my his bed at night!
Now that sirely cannot be construed as sensible handling of deadly weapons, precisely because of the tragic outcome - this young man has shot his friend dead, unintentionally, but sadly, the friend is just as dead, whether he meant it or not.
And that is my argument against wholesale gun ownership - the 'frontier' attitude in modern America means that this kind of tragedy happens, and keeps on happening, and as a responsible gun owner, you must surely concede that this is a situation that needs to be addressed.