By By KATHIE HEMPEL / Niles Daily Star
NILES - With the recent shooting in South Bend, Ind. and reports of increased personal firearm purchases, this week the Niles Daily Star asked the question: how do you feel about guns in the home for personal protection?
Chris Williams, also of Niles, was out with Skalla and her family fixing the wrought iron fencing at Silverbrook Cemetery. He is a hunter and a gun owner.
Many of those questioned referred to the recent shooting of the police officer in South Bend. The gun in that instance had reportedly been purchased from a dealer at a show, but without background checks and without proper registration.
Guns in the home where there are children present were of particular concern to many of the respondents.
Terri Allabaugh is a registered nurse and Associate Trauma Program Manager with Bronson Methodist Hospital out of Kalamazoo. She was in town this Friday to put on a pre-prom alcohol and drug awareness program at Brandywine School, but also does presentations on accidental shootings.
Luella Zimmerman, Niles, was loading her groceries into the back of her car.
Diane Anderson is a daycare provider in Buchanan. She too, has very strong opinions about guns around children.
Bob Corwin is a former liquor storeowner. When he first had his store friends supposed he would have a gun.
His companions joined in on the conversations. Meg and Zack Harris were out shopping with Corwin.
You end up getting sued if you injure someone. Children, being in the home, with a gun frightens me. My husband's family collects guns. They are all locked away and unloaded but then there is no protection in that either. A trespasser isn't about to wait for you to unlock, load and shoot,” she said.
Her husband agreed.
If it's in your house, it needs to be locked up and registered. It's tough. I have nothing against someone defending and protecting their family,” Mr. Harris said.
Corwin added that home gun owners need training. “Law enforcement not only gets training, but gets regular refresher courses,” he said.
The group pointed out that the gunman in the Virginia Tech shootings had little trouble securing his weapons and that the Columbine High School shooters had purchased their weapons online.
Ed and Amy Williams were enjoying the nice weather. They drove in from Galien to do some shopping at Wal-Mart.
All who were asked agreed on basics. With children in the house extreme caution needs to be exercised. And there needs to be mandatory training and extreme safety measures taken to avoid accidents.