do you ask about guns at a family's house before letting your kid go to a playdate there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ This is 20:27. I should add that none of these people I know are buying guns to defend themselves against the government. That is insane.

Gun owner here. I truly do think that's crazy. I'm not an anarchist. A part of me has always thought though that knowing how to use a gun is a life skill like driving a stick shift. I'm not a prepper either, but in case of war/emergency/zombie attack I would know how to hunt and feed my family.

If you did catch someone with a loaded gun (a criminal or even a child) would you know how to unload it?

[Anonymous]

As noted by others about 2/3 of American homes have guns. In a place like DC about 0.5% have legal guns and about 26% own guns illegally. Given the FBI, BATFE seizures and local arrest records in DC by age, and race cohort (more than 98% of DC violent crime is committed by African American males), it breaks down to about 80% of African American adult males in DC illegally own a gun.

[Anonymous]

NP here. My siblings all hunt and / or are married to people who hunt and I knew about them having guns and how they were stored (combination safes with ammo kept elsewhere). I got a little complacent in DC about asking since it seemed rare and my child was so young. Now she’s 5 and I’m not always with her when she’s playing. We moved to the Bay Area and she’s been invited on a play date. Thanks for the reminder...I asked whether they have a gun and, if so, how is it stored. It turns out they have a handgun and she told me how they secure it. I’m glad I asked.

[Anonymous]

I do not trust people who kill things for fun. There is something missing in their soul. I think people who are so afraid of the world that they make themselves less safe by having a gun in their home are dangerous plain and simple. It is not even remotely rational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not trust people who kill things for fun. There is something missing in their soul. I think people who are so afraid of the world that they make themselves less safe by having a gun in their home are dangerous plain and simple. It is not even remotely rational.

What about option #3 - people who don’t hunt or have guns for self defense, but just enjoy the sport of target shooting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not trust people who kill things for fun. There is something missing in their soul. I think people who are so afraid of the world that they make themselves less safe by having a gun in their home are dangerous plain and simple. It is not even remotely rational.

Everyone I know who hunts will eat what they kill. We're taking deer, turkey, pheasant, etc. People have about the local food movement and that's about as local as you can get. How is that any different from raising chickens and being a poultry farmer? What about those families who live in remote areas and need guns to protect themselves from coyotes? I'm pretty sure people out in Wyoming aren't going out on trail rides without a gun.

PPs comments show a gross misunderstanding about how people live. Not everyone is living in a town. We will never fix the issue of gun control if the debate continues to be an us vs. them conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What have a listserve and what we do is identify any address with a criminal domiciled and spread the word!

it all came about from a similar non-anonymous question on guns in homes, and it turned out the person advocating outing of firearms owners had a stepson with an assault record!

A list member who was it the PD identified that person, and we found that a number of us because of Human REosurces jobs or law enforcement jobs had access to databases with arrest records whihc in the US are public .

Half or more of country owns guns that is not the risk factor, the risk factor for violence, be it bating death, knife fightng or attack injuries or death, sexual attack -- is arrest records.

about 10% of DC has arrest records and those are 90% of people who commit murder. Know where they live. If a kids big brother or step father or mother's boyfriend has an arrest record OUT THEM so everyone knowns!

Actually less than half of Americans own guns: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/29/american-gun-ownership-is-now-at-a-30-year-low/. But the average gun owner owns 8 guns. Is it really so mysterious that the rest of us think gun owners comprise a high number of psychos? Who needs 8 guns? And let's be real: most of these people aren't well-educated and conscientious.

Why does the number matter, would you rather have a gun owner with 8 guns who keeps them responsibly secured in a safe or someone with just one who keeps it out lying around in arms reach?

The former, obviously. But the people who keep arsenals and own assault rifles and the like seem less likely to be responsible gun owners.

Show me the cites that say this is true. To the contrary, the people that I know who own multiple guns (and actually use them for sport) are probably more safety conscious than your average idiot who went to a gun show and bought something shiny. In any even, haven't you learned that making generalizations about people is a bad idea? So just stop. You're seriously making yourself sound like a fool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not trust people who kill things for fun. There is something missing in their soul. I think people who are so afraid of the world that they make themselves less safe by having a gun in their home are dangerous plain and simple. It is not even remotely rational.

Everyone I know who hunts will eat what they kill. We're taking deer, turkey, pheasant, etc. People have about the local food movement and that's about as local as you can get. How is that any different from raising chickens and being a poultry farmer? What about those families who live in remote areas and need guns to protect themselves from coyotes? I'm pretty sure people out in Wyoming aren't going out on trail rides without a gun.

PPs comments show a gross misunderstanding about how people live. Not everyone is living in a town. We will never fix the issue of gun control if the debate continues to be an us vs. them conversation.

+1

All the hunters I know (I am not one) eat what they kill, and often use other parts of the bodies for things as well. Yes, people who go around shooting neighborhood cats and dogs for fun are psychopaths. And yes, those people exist. But your statements show how out of touch you are with so much of this country. And by lumping every single person who owns a gun into one group, all you're doing is a disservice to the progress of gun control. Of all the people I know who own guns, none of them would argue against stricter laws, registration, etc. These are the people you ought to want on your side, but you're ostracizing them. So well done.

[Anonymous]

Do the same people who are beating their breasts about gun ownership inquire about what medications are kept in the home and whether there is a lock on the medicine cabinet? Whether a purse with a pill box is left in the open? Would you consider someone asking you what medications you’re on too intrusive? Because accidental ingestion and overdose of medications (yes, even innocently, not kids on heroin or anything) is a bigger problem for kids these days than an accidental shooting. You all are worried about the wrong pervasive problem here, and hypocrites to boot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not trust people who kill things for fun. There is something missing in their soul. I think people who are so afraid of the world that they make themselves less safe by having a gun in their home are dangerous plain and simple. It is not even remotely rational.

Everyone I know who hunts will eat what they kill. We're taking deer, turkey, pheasant, etc. People have about the local food movement and that's about as local as you can get. How is that any different from raising chickens and being a poultry farmer? What about those families who live in remote areas and need guns to protect themselves from coyotes? I'm pretty sure people out in Wyoming aren't going out on trail rides without a gun.

PPs comments show a gross misunderstanding about how people live. Not everyone is living in a town. We will never fix the issue of gun control if the debate continues to be an us vs. them conversation.

+1

All the hunters I know (I am not one) eat what they kill, and often use other parts of the bodies for things as well. Yes, people who go around shooting neighborhood cats and dogs for fun are psychopaths. And yes, those people exist. But your statements show how out of touch you are with so much of this country. And by lumping every single person who owns a gun into one group, all you're doing is a disservice to the progress of gun control. Of all the people I know who own guns, none of them would argue against stricter laws, registration, etc. These are the people you ought to want on your side, but you're ostracizing them. So well done.

Lots of people shoot deer, geese and all other kinds of animals for the fun of it. Just because you eat what you kill doesn't mean you don't enjoy killing it. I'm betting the poultry farmer doesn't approach his day with the same glee of a hunter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the same people who are beating their breasts about gun ownership inquire about what medications are kept in the home and whether there is a lock on the medicine cabinet? Whether a purse with a pill box is left in the open? Would you consider someone asking you what medications you’re on too intrusive? Because accidental ingestion and overdose of medications (yes, even innocently, not kids on heroin or anything) is a bigger problem for kids these days than an accidental shooting. You all are worried about the wrong pervasive problem here, and hypocrites to boot.

The difference between a gun and a pill is that with a pill it takes a lot more to kill. It only takes one bullet. Also if you read the news you will see that the "responsible" gun owners in Florida "thought" they had the ONLY key to the gun locker where the Florida shooter got his gun.

[Anonymous]

Where does the "2/3rds of homes have guns" stat come from? That does not sound correct.

[Anonymous]

I don't care how amazing your gun safe is. If you have a gun in your home, I don't want my child playing there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you haven't been to the house before/the family is new to you, do you ask whether there are guns? if the family has guns, do you still let your kid play at that house?

Why would they tell you if they have weapons?
They simply will say they don't have any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the same people who are beating their breasts about gun ownership inquire about what medications are kept in the home and whether there is a lock on the medicine cabinet? Whether a purse with a pill box is left in the open? Would you consider someone asking you what medications you’re on too intrusive? Because accidental ingestion and overdose of medications (yes, even innocently, not kids on heroin or anything) is a bigger problem for kids these days than an accidental shooting. You all are worried about the wrong pervasive problem here, and hypocrites to boot.

Guns are now the third leading cause of death for U.S. children. It is well established that the rates of accidental gun deaths in children are underestimated because they have historically been classified in the category of "accidental deaths" a category that includes a lot of other things (and would also include prescription drugs, etc.) So it's hard to get concrete numbers on either of the scenarios you describe. That said, you (and your children) take risks every time you leave your house. Some people choose where their risk tolerance ends...and for some people that's at weapons.