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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Do you ask about guns in the house before a playdate?
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Anonymous
| The gun thread in the off-topic forum got me thinking about this. When your child is invited for a playdate at the home of a family you don't know well, do you ask if there are guns in the house? If so, how do you phrase it and what responses have you received? Have you declined a playdate invitation for your child because of this? |
Anonymous
| and for those who own guns would you take offense if someone declined a playdate invite? |
Anonymous
| Why would you tell someone you had guns in the house? I would never tell someone I had guns. It's none of their business to know what items I personally have. Do you ask people if they have diamonds? If they have any sleep medication? If they have any weed killer? |
Anonymous
I wouldn't be offended but I would be happy to explain the set up. Locked closet, locked guncase inside the closet, ammunition kept elsewhere. No toddler could get in there. I can see a parent of a teenager being more concerned about whether our child could break into the closet, case, etc. If the person looked at me like I was crazy for having a gun in the house, I wouldn't be offended but I would probably assume we weren't going to be great friends. |
Anonymous
your child won't kill mine using a diamond. |
Anonymous
|
Accidental causes of death:
motor vehicle accidents: ~43,000/yr falls: ~15,000/yr firearms: ~1,500/yr It's just not something that warrants the amount of caution you are placing on it. If it's locked an in a safe it's not going to magically hurt someone. |
Anonymous
| If the parent was a cop, would you be concerned about them having their service weapon in the house and decline a play-date? Do you think private citizens are any less cautious than a police officer about firearms at home? They're probably MORE cautious, honestly. |
cmkeough
Member Location: Arlington, VA
Offline
Member Location: Arlington, VA
Offline
|
Funny, I thought this thread was asking if it's okay to play with toy guns at playdates.
CK |
Anonymous
| I don't have guns in the house (live in DC) but if a mom asked me if I did before they came over for a play date, I'd probably lie and say that we did and we display them proudly on the coffee table just to get her not to come. A question like that is just stupid. |
Anonymous
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are using 10 year old statistics for children aged 0-17, unintentional deaths and you are excluding 18 year olds from this figure because you don't think 18 year olds are "children." Oh, and that by "accidents" you mean deaths (since there are about 6 times as many accidents as deaths). Here are the exact figures, from the CDC, shotgun related deaths and injuries. (If you want to question the stats, go to the CDC injury and fatality site and enter "firearm" as cause of injury / fatal injury.) More than 20,000 American children and teens are injured or killed with a gun. 3,997 kids died from gun violence or accidents. 20,702 kids survived gun injuries. 3,218 kids (includes 18 year olds) died from gun violence. to answer OP's question, I haven't crossed that bridge yet. I would hope that by the time my child is old enough to go to someone's house on his own, the handgun legislation that created this fucked up situation in DC will have been repealed. |
Anonymous
| Honestly, it would never even occur to me to think about this. Where do you live? West Virginia? |
Anonymous
OP here. I don't live in West Virginia, no. Pretty much the opposite. But the thread in OT made me think about this because a number of posters on that thread say they do have guns in this house. Presumably those posters live primarily in this area. I am making no judgments about gun ownership. I'm just curious to know if other parents ask this question and how they handle the issue. That's why I asked. |
Anonymous
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I'm not the PP you are "correcting" but if you are going to give gun violence statistics, those can't be compared to accidental deaths by firearm, which must be a smaller group. If the PP was underinclusive, your numbers are way overinclusive for this discussion.
If you want to argue whether we should have guns in society at all, the gun violence stats are relevant. For playdates, the question OP is asking is about the risk of accidental gun exposure, not intentional gun violence. |
Anonymous
Actually, if the parent was a law enforcement officer, I would still be concerned about them having their service weapon in the house. It doesn't mean I would decline a playdate and my questions of them would be no different. And I don't think it is fair to say that a law enforcement officer would be less cautious. Those that I know might not have been cautious before they had kids, but are very cautious once they have children. Many have responded to enough gun crimes and accidents that they recognize the seriousness of the issue. |
Anonymous
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I have been personally affected by gun violence in my life (held up, caught in drive-by shooting) and have never asked someone...
But I bet if I told people my full story and asked about their homes, they would understand. |