I'll grant you that there might be circumstances under which one has to be able to defend self and loved ones. And it isn't my intent to suggest that guns ought to be taken away from people. The vast majority of gun owners wouldn't hurt a fly.

With regards to riots and stores being looted. On the side of the store owner, he or she should have insurance for that. I would not want to shoot someone for stealing from my store. I am not sure the law justifies that. I am not sure that I can morally justify it regardless of the law.

The deeper problem is societal. Was there any looting in Japan after the tsunami. Nope. Why? Different culture. Different behavioral patterns. What is it about our society and what we teach kids and people that would lead them to equate a natural disaster or a little civil unrest with the idea of taking and destroying other's property? Don't know.

The issue that is touching a nerve today with this horrific tragedy is that guns are simply too available or they are being sold to people who should not have them. I am speaking as someone who has zero problems with the concept of gun ownership. That said, as a father, I'll be damned if I'll choose gun ownership over my kids right to be safe at school or at the mall. That's not a tough decision to make at all.

I'm a numbers guy and I know full-well that the statistics found at reputable sources such as the CDC or FBI show that deaths due to guns almost pale in comparison to other causes of death, particularly when combined. The same Hollywood actors who pull at the heart-strings and stand for gun control after a disaster such as Newtown go and get drunk at parties and don't express outrage for the fact that drunk drivers kill ten times as many kids per year as guns do. It's unfortunate but true. And, I do get it. Considering that there are about 350 million guns in the US it is easy to conclude that the vast majority of them are absolutely harmless.

When you look at what happened in Newtown you have to wonder how and why these guns got into this household. By all reports this kid had very serious issues. I don't know how one would do this, but these guns shouldn't have been available to him and perhaps even his mother. It is horrific and there is no pro-gun argument that can stand a chance against the brutal death of a child in this manner.

When I go to the shooting range I am sometimes in awe of the weapons I see there. Some guys show up with stuff that looks just amazing. As an engineer I appreciate the tech. But sometimes I think that these guys could go from harmless-hobbyist to mass murderer in a second if a single bit flipped in their brains. I have fired AR-type weapons rented at the range. They are a blast. But they are also nasty-deadly. These are tools built for rapid killing and almost nothing else. Same with semi-auto handguns that can squeeze-off rounds as fast as you can pull the trigger. Do we really need to own these things to defend our homes? Are we going to be invaded by hordes of armed thugs?

Shotguns are a different story. Particularly breach-loaded shotguns. Here you have a particularly intimidating self-defense (and hunting) weapon that is a lot harder to use for mass murder. One or two shots and a good pause to reload. I can't see someone justifying needing an AR for self-defense vs. a shotgun. If you take any of these mass shootings and substitute whatever weapons they used with breech-loaded shotguns I guarantee you that the outcomes would have been very, very different. People at least have a chance to overtake the shooter.

This is a complicated issue for sure. It becomes far less complicated when you have parents in fear of their kids being mowed-down with semi-automatic weapons. Today, that is a potential reality anywhere in the US where you combine these kinds of weapons with a lunatic. The NRA and gun lobbies need to tread lightly here because, today, there isn't a single parent who would not support a vote for serious gun control --even if irrational-- at some level.

And, yes, the nut-jobs need to keep their mouth's shut. Your right to own a gun doesn't stand a chance against my kids' right to not get shot in school, at the mall or in the movie theater.