These Two Stories Lack Enough Evidence to Convict Guns

  (Note: If you are regular reader, I'd skip this blog. Not too interesting. Wrote it more as a matter of record, to help me track what leads to gun violence.)
   Once, the news stories I passed over were the ones about murder. It was issues I was concerned about.
   Then came the great gun debate. Now, I find myself combing the stories of violence in search of hints as to whether owning guns leads to death. So, take these two stories from today's newspapers. 
   First, a five-month-old-boy died after being shot, and his father, Joshua David Peterson, was arrested in the investigation. The story tells me the son was laid on the couch, and then the father allegedly went into another room and got a gun, loaded it, and shot the baby. I find myself saying, The gun was available and if it had not been in the home, the murder might not have happened. But, reading on, I see how the father told investigators he had been considering killing the baby and himself for the past month. Someone reportedly tackled the father after he shot the son and before he was able to pull the trigger on himself. If he had been considering murder-suicide, he had time to buy the gun, rather than already having it. Also, there are those who would say if the gun wasn't available, he would have just used a knife.
   Perhaps, though part of me wonders if guns make the killing easier.
   The father reportedly did have mental challenges, of note since many violent crimes are committed by those with mental illnesses.
   Story two is about a couple men who got into an argument, and one pulled out a gun and was threatening the other. The friend tried to ward off the gun, and it went off, the bullet hitting him in the stomach. Was the assailant wearing the gun? Or did he pull it out from somewhere in the home? Either way, the availability of a weapon made the crime possible. But, if the man had not a gun, would he have been wearing a knife, instead? That seems possible. 
   So, on these two stories, I do not find enough evidence to be confident the availability of guns was a decisive factor.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865577594/5-month-old-boy-shot-to-death-in-American-Fork-home.html

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56113467-78/friend-charges-shooting-according.html.csp