Wow. . . .going back a few posts. . . I just taught my 7 yo. how to shoot his first .22.

Gov’t stats huh. . . well, mine say something different with having lived in several different places on the globe. Whilst one can argue that this one specific area of criminal behaviour (gun RELATED crimes) goes down, your not being given the whole of the picture.

In most cases those nations and municipalities who have to strictest gun laws will suffer a rise in other areas of criminal activity such as home invasion, car theft, sexual assault, battery and other violent crimes. The murder rate does not tend to drop across any particular boundary either. One still carries the same risk of being killed by a violent crime, now it’s just the way it’s committed.

On the other hand, when Kennesaw, Ga. issued a mandate that required (requested) ever home owner have a gun, violent crime, thefts, home invasions, etc dropped. . . now why on earth??? . . . I actually had the pleasure of living there. It’s not some po-dunk town straigt out of ‘Duke’s of Hazzard’ either. It’s a nice (if even a little busy) suburb of Atlanta.

BTW, the chances of you, your loved ones or friends dying a horrible death from a car accident is FAR AND AWAR greater than by dying from being shot. Please, don’t let your kids hang around any family that has a car. . . they might get killed that way.

If one should care to delve a bit deeper into this subject matter of ‘gun control’ then they’ll find several other nations who have instituted either a ‘no tolerance’ policy to guns or very strict laws.

Since we should take a better sampling of what happens over time then we need to eliminate those that have just made that shift such as England. . . Let us look at those that went that route say around 75 years ago. Nazi Germany is the very first one that comes to my mind. Hitler himself proclaimed in one of his many public speeches during the mid 1930’s that ‘Germany is now the first nation to have ever instituted modern and complete gun control’. But then hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little unionistic National Socialism now is there?? Then of course there’s other places like Russia and China too. It’s not just the big ‘ole bad communistic or fascist nations either. Look at Mexico, or some of out South American neighbors. I know personlly feel much safer when traveling abroad to these destinations (sarc.).

Well, going back to it, he had a great time, even started getting the basics of what REAL gun control is all about. Descriminating the difference between what a target is and isn’t, and then consistently and accurately hitting it with iron sights from over 500yds (yest, five football fields) away. . . He’ll get there!

What would make you comfortable enough to have your child play at my house? Would I need to remove my guns? Ammo removed from the house? What would make you comfortable enough to avoid the one-sided friendship situation?

I’m asking because it (surprisingly) hasn’t come up yet, and I am curious.

Because if you are okay with that, I think you just need to say, “I know that this may sound paranoid, but with everything in the news lately and my child always getting into everything…I just like to make sure. Do you have guns? If so, what safety measures do you use to keep them (and liquor, pills, and knives) away from the children?”

And if they balk at this idea: Either have the first play date at your place and identify YOUR known hazards and how YOU keep the kids safe and/or say, “I know your children are used to your rules and you are used to how your children play in your house…but since my child is new to your house, I want to make sure that she is able to play safely.”

So far, it has not been an issue, but I would not be surprised if some friends were offended if I actually articulated the rule for them. Something along the lines of “you don’t trust me?” I’ll just have to live with that because, although I realize the chances of problems are very small, I could not live with a gun accident.

That I might happen to have 9mm pistol in my garage stored safely where children cannot obtain it would not deter me from lying to you. If you feel the way you feel, then you clearly do not need to know whether I own a gun or not.

I happen to be a person that believes guns should be reasonably secured. I also happen to agree with you, that a highly secured weapon with gun-in-safe and ammo separate is not particularly useful for self-defense. On that count, I yield to the logic of those who would secure a locked handgun in a handgun safe designed for that purpose.

Personally, I have chosen for myself to NOT keep a loaded handgun in my house. But if I did, it would be secured, and I would pleasantly lie to you about it. This satisfies your logic test (only a loaded accessible gun can be useful), and it satisfies your feel test. You can’t feel bad about a gun you don’t know about. Logic and emotion are both served.

I would not hesistate to ask someone if they have handguns in thier home…

I will absolutely ask if there are guns in the home. Hopefully my question will be kind and without judgement, but I will definitely ask. She won’t go if there are guns there. The children are welcome to play at our house. It is my job to ensure that my child does not face any unnecessary dangers. I consider playing in a home with a weapon unnecessary.

I don’t believe that children can be “taught” not to play with a gun and saw a show one time about families who were absolutely convinced their child would *never* touch a gun. They put these children in a room with a gun and sure enough, one child picked it up to show off to his friends and pointed it at the smallest child there. The point to me is that children cannot make rational decisions all the time and a bad decision with a gun will kill.

I think every parent has concerns that are important to them. Each parent has to do what they feel is best for their own child. Hopefully the parents will respect what I have to do for mine.

If someone is offended when questions about weapons are asked, then that someone is wrong. There must be an open dialogue about such items.

I do believe that if a family is willing to shut out another family because of the issue without an open dialogue, then those people are doing themselves and the weapon owner a disservice. In our particular case, it would be somewhat offensive for people to trust my husband to protect them on a daily basis but refuse to have anything to do with us in our home because of what he does for a living.

No one should ever be afraid of honest open discussion on the matter. Not every issue is so black/white. It’s an individual decision based on the responsibility level of each weapon owner. Some of the harsh statements so far need not be such “blanket” statements.