I can see why you'd blame my concern ona distaste for firearms, but that isn't the case at all. I have a strong mistrust of gun owners, yes, but I have good reasons. We're a military family. I hear military members thrown out as some kind of paragons of safe gun use.
Over the last 5 years or so, we've seen one guy my dh served with kill himself with his firearm (that one was a suicide), one guy accidentally kill himself while cleaning his loaded weapon, one guy shoot a roommate while drunk because he thought he was breaking in, and, most recently, a watchstander (person guarding a ship with a loaded weapon) be masted because he decided it was a great idea to pull a YouTube stunt and point his gun at someone in jest. They also had to do a whole lecture to everyone that this was not in any way acceptable behavior.
Oh, and outside the military, there was the neighbor who gave his kid a weapon and the kid thought target shooting in a very urban area in his backyard was a proper use of said weapon. That happened several times, once while I was outside with my kids in their pool. They were terrified and the only reason the cops weren't called is because my next door neighbor ran over to scream at him and it finally stopped happening.
I know I've said this before, but we've talked about owning a gun. I was barred from learning how to shoot as a kid because I'm a girl and from a religious family. I'd still really like to learn how to shoot in a safe environment. We decided against it because we have kids. It was a risk we weren't willing to take with them. Their lives are more important than some fun with a gun. We have let our son learn to shoot at Boy Scout camp on a controlled range. I had no problem with that.
What would it take to trust gun owners with my kids? An assurance the weapons are always locked up, whether loaded or unloaded, because how is anyone supposed to know the difference? I don't trust concealed carry because of a friend who thought putting the gun in her purse was reasonable. A purse that is often put down. All it takes to destroy my kid's life is one bullet, one moment of inattention and one bad decision. One bullet can do terrible things.
Also, as gun owners, I would have so much more respect if you all would advocate for those irresponsible parents to face stiff repercussions! Right now, we throw all that responsibility on our kids. We're supposed to be teaching them about gun safety because that's supposed to be enough. We put zero onus on owners to secure their weapons. ZERO. it's actually the number one thing I'd like to see when it comes to gun control, and it wouldn't keep any of your favorite guns out of your hands. Where, after all, do these school shooters generally get their weapons from? Their irresponsible parents.