Is there a gun in the house?

[Hazcat]

When my kids were in preschool it was easy to plan playdates. Most of the time I was dropping them off at a neighbor's house. I knew their complete video collection and dietary offerings as well as I knew my own. There were no worries that they would watch something racier than Sesame Street or eat something greasier then a grilled cheese. My only concern was that they might find a gun and shoot themselves.

I've always had this one obsessive fear of kids and guns perhaps rooted in a story my husband wrote nearly 20 years ago about a 9-year-old boy who killed himself because his "girlfriend" gave him the cold shoulder one day during fourth grade. My fear was only augmented when I later interviewed a policeman who taught gun safety classes only to have his own son accidentally shoot himself with a neighbor's gun while playing with a friend. So I dared to ask playdates' parents if they had any guns in the house and if so, were they locked up. Other than that slightly awkward question, I had no other concerns because I knew the hosts so well.

Well, preschool and elementary playdates are a thing of the past. My oldest is in sixth grade in a school of about 1,000 students and she has friends whose parents I don't know. What's the drill now for making sure she's heading to a house where the parents will be home and keeping a good eye on the kids? How do I know if a new friend could influence her to make bad choices? How do I control what they look at and who they talk to on the Internet? Or for fear of being a classified a "helicopter parent", do I simply trust her to take care of herself, do the right thing and remember the phrase: "My mom would kill me if I did that. And I know she would end up finding out."

What do you do when your child, be he 4 or 15, is going on a playdate or sleepover at the home of a someone you don't know at all?

-- Katherine Snow Smith, Go Momma magazine

Posted by Times Editor at 10:02:31 AM on January 5, 2009

http://blogs.tampabay.com/moms/2009/01/is-there-a-gun.html

comments at link

[Rob Pincus]

Comment posted at the website... the key is education and awareness.

[Hazcat]

Yep,  I posted the comment about the NRA and Eddie Eagle.

[TAB]

While education is a very good thing( I'm a firm beleaver in it) it is no replacement for parents keeping things stored safely.

[jaybet]

Posted this on the website:
I went through that with MY kids, but it wasn't guns. Who are the parents? What do they do? Are the parents going to be home?
It's not a gun problem it's a parenting problem. The odds are INFINITELY higher that your kid will go somewhere and be molested or be given drugs or alcohol, or be killed in a car with someone else who's been drinking, or see porn, or eat that evil FAST FOOD that's next thing on the PC list, before they ever SEE a gun. Gun owners for the most part are responsible people and teach their children gun safety.

Statistically, guns are the least of your problems.
I'm a gun owner and I have to say that I'm personally offended by the photo used for the article too. I get the willys from photos like that- in fact THAT is a bad example. Great editor.

[Sponsor]

[Texas_Bryan]

I'm going with the education group.  There's no way a person can control everything in the world, so we should teach kids how to make decisions in those situations, even if the only option is to leave or call the parents.  Personally I think kids natural curiosity will always get the best of them so we should do as much to remove that curiosity and nothing takes away a kids curiosity like learning  "Now this is your basic...And if this ever happens...In this gun you got..."

But you can never discount other people's kids, which for me is my main concern.  I can %100 say that I'm not worried about what one of my family members would do around guns.  But them other kids...

[tt11758]

While education is a very good thing( I'm a firm beleaver in it) it is no replacement for parents keeping things stored safely.

Once again, TAB, you and I agree. (This IS getting scary!!)  

That being said, in a perfect world (as in most of our homes, I'm sure) there is a combination of RESPONSIBLE (read that, weapons secured when not in use) gun ownership and firearms education of the young-uns.

[Big Frank]

What do you do when your child, be he 4 or 15, is going on a playdate or sleepover at the home of a someone you don't know at all?

It wouldn't happen. If you teach your kid not to take candy from strangers, why would you let them have a sleepover at a stranger's house?


Kids aren't the only ones you have to worry about. Since I don't have any I thought I could keep a loaded gun in my own house without any problems. I have a holster attached to the bed with a 1911 type pistol. No round in the chamber but several in the mag. When I was married my wife's cousin was over one day. He grabbed the pistol and racked the slide and said, "Hey, is this thing loaded?" I said, "NOW it is!" What an idiot. I had to take the gun away from him and put it away. When someone's a gunowner and over 50 years old you would think they know better. Too bad adults are worse than kids.

[tombogan03884]

What do you do when your child, be he 4 or 15, is going on a playdate or sleepover at the home of a someone you don't know at all?

It wouldn't happen. If you teach your kid not to take candy from strangers, why would you let them have a sleepover at a stranger's house?


Kids aren't the only ones you have to worry about. Since I don't have any I thought I could keep a loaded gun in my own house without any problems. I have a holster attached to the bed with a 1911 type pistol. No round in the chamber but several in the mag. When I was married my wife's cousin was over one day. He grabbed the pistol and racked the slide and said, "Hey, is this thing loaded?" I said, "NOW it is!" What an idiot. I had to take the gun away from him and put it away. When someone's a gunowner and over 50 years old you would think they know better. Too bad adults are worse than kids.

Even back when I was married it was understood by any one entered my home, If they were going to know I had guns they also knew that if they were going to handle them I would hand them to them, and I only did that after opening the cylinder or removeing the mag and clearing them.

[Big Frank]

Some people use their brain for something other than keeping their skull from collapsing. Some don't. My ex's cousin was the latter.  I wanted to get a gun out of the safe to show him and before I even got the door open he grabbed my house gun. After that I didn't turn my back on him again as long as I knew him. I practiced better gun safety as a child than he did as an adult. I never anticipated an adult acting that way so maybe it was my fault too.