Household Guns as a Risk Factor for Domestic Violence and Suicide

If it isn't obvious from other posts, Quiet Song now discloses that she works a lot with individuals on their personal and familial safety issues and the aftermath of safety failures and other unfortunate occurences. And, probably equally as evident, Quiet Song has high requirements of persons she helps in that she requires them to move towards personal accountability in their decision making process. This is especially true of the women she helps, but she sometimes has to sort through these matters with men as well.

If persons wish to dramatically reduce their own or loved ones risk for death or injury due to domestic violence or suicide, they will remove the firearms from their home. It's that simple. Choose accountability. And do it now. No legislation or gun control needed.

For a fact sheet on guns in the home produced by the Brady Center click here.

Desperately seeking safety

Lately, I've found myself wondering about the quality of decisions I made earlier in life and I cannot decide whether or not I would have been able to make other choices. I was not safe as a child or a teenager, but usually not because of my own choices. In retrospect, I tried hard to make safer choices, but they didn't always work out entirely as planned. Imagine that, a person's best laid plans don't work out!

Safety is a rather elusive commodity that is subject to the demand curve and our human foibles. And the human foibles of others. It's perplexing to me, a safety seeker, the existence of the human inclination towards risk taking. And, it is the most frustrating thing about raising teenagers and watching my young adult children move on with their lives. No risk equals little or no growth. Too much risky behavior equals little or no growth, damage or even destruction.

Finally, I've managed to carve out what feels like a much higher level of safety physically, financially, and emotionally. But I don't feel safe spiritually. I feel surrounded and alone too often. Reading this I know what the answers are to remedy this void of spiritual safety, yet I've let the expediencies of the moment control.

Scriptural role models abound. Moroni moves me the most because he was so physically alone and clearly at times felt spiritually alone. And, he was not safe physically. I love the change in his perspective as he writes and fulfills his calling. It becomes ever clearer that even though he is alone in an unsafe environment, he has found spiritual safety and was not spiritually alone.

I want the same.