I've had teens here a lot, and even my DD11 has friends over frequently. While I do not trust them to make adult decisions, we do have rules about where they are not invited. I've never had a problem with them going into my bedroom or sewing area, office, etc. where I have extremely sharp scissors and rotary cutters, needles, and more. I've never had a kid touch or mess with something that isn't theirs, with the one exception being my older son's drum set. (It's in the room where they all hang out, is incredibly tempting, and they've never harmed it. They just want to try it. If it were a problem, we'd have to come up with a way to move it or move them.Right now it just annoys my older son.)
My understanding is that this girl broke a lot of rules in the house and obviously didn't have the manners to respect other people's boundaries or things. She went into a room where they were not supposed to be, she took a gun from a holster, pointed it at someone, and pulled the trigger. There were so many points on this horrific path where she could have made a different choice!
When you consider that this girl will be legally allowed to drive a car in less than a year, it really puts things in perspective. How can we allow someone to take control of a
motor vehicle that kills way more people annually than guns, but not trust her not to point a gun at someone and pull the trigger?
Yes, I think guns should be locked up and ours are all unloaded and in a safe, but the gun owner is not the only person who bears the weight of this tragedy.