Gun talks prior to play dates

[Heffay]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/10/living/gu ... pt=hp_bn11

Interesting article. If someone wanted to play with your kids, would you be offended if they asked you how you stored your guns? Or is the "Asking Saves Kids" campaign a good idea that can help save lives?

I personally think it's a good idea. I know my brother asked our parents how they kept their guns, and it lead to them securing them better.

[scarletvw]

I wouldn't be offended if the parents of one of my sons friends asked me, I'd have no problem talking to them about it. Now on the other hand, I don'd really know how I'd bring it up to someone else, especially since I don't know if they even own a firearm.

[bstrawse]

I wouldn't be offended by this at all...
b

[EJSG19]

fine by me. it is surprising how many friends old and new really enjoy shooting around here. If somebody has a hard time with locked up and no access guns in a household their child plays at, and there is no amount of question and answer that will resolve their difficulty, I'm not sure how I'd handle that.

I don't see it happening often enough to worry about personally. But that is my local dynamic. We are woefully short on the organic, dreadlock, bedwetting, police is all you need segment of the population around here.

[Ron Burgundy]

I wouldn't be offended.

I do think it is silly how worked up helicopter parents get about potential exposure to guns. Frankly, pools and pit bulls have the same natural attraction for kids as guns do. I'm not an actuary but I'm confident that pools and pit bulls have significantly higher accident rates. Even worse, pit bulls are capable of independent thought and aggression.

No, I don't have anything against pit bulls. They do make for an easy scapegoat

[PHATSPEED7x]

Education is good. I wouldn't have a issue... as long as they didn't start embarrassing me about owning firearms.

[DoxaPar]

I've had a friend ask me. I considered it a sign of a good parent.

[whiteox]

No. II'd be find with that. I'd be a little annoyed if that was the only risk assessment they did. But then human beings are bad at judging risk.

[Mn01r6]

They should probably ask me to drain the pond next to my house first, but I like the idea. Actually might use this to ferret out fellow gun nuts among my kids' friends' parents.

[minnhawk]

Did you know that the Pit Bull breed and guns have much in common? Both create an immediate knee jerk reaction in many people who think they are inherently dangerous and evil. Pit bulls can be trained to be vicious by evil people but are actually wonderful loving kid dogs. Spot in the Our Gang comedies was a pit bull, and in the 20's and 30's they were known as a great family breed. My son has a rescue Pit Bull from Ohio who is nicer and gentler than our lab.
Note: I am writing this for the good of the breed, not because they were used as an example in a previous post. I used to be scared of pit bulls because I didn't know they had to be tortured and trained to be vicious. I have wrestled 5 rescue pits at once (pile on minnhawk bone keep away) and none even snarled or bit. I was kinda sore because they are strong dogs, but they are lovers

[Northfield 556]

Due to the architecture of our 107 year old house, I am unable to move my large gun safe to the basement. As a result, any guests will have to be blind in order to miss this sizeable addition to our library. I am the proud father of a beautiful nine month old baby girl, and I have a little boy on the way. Everyone that we know is well aware of my main hobby and they bring their kids to our house without question. I believe that my "bank vault", sized, Browning wide-body safe gives parents the comfort and piece of mind they need to respect and trust me as a responsible gun owner.

Oh wait, we also own, (and have bread), South African Boerboel protection dogs....and people still bring their kids over. God bless Northfield !

[MNGunner]

If I had small children, I would want to know that the parents of their friends prevent unwanted access to guns.
And, of course, that they block acccess to dummycrats.

[PileDriver]

I have no problem with a parent asking that question. It's open minded and non-phobic discussion. If this question is being asked, that parent is comfortable with firearms in the home. I couldn't ask for more. The potential for reason and sanity to spread increases.

As for a campaign... whatever. Sounds like a waste of money to make advertisment reminding a parent.... to be a parent. As long as it isn't my money and isn't telling parents too keep your kids away from the boogeyman firearm owner, I have nothing to bitch about.

[jdege]

Interesting article. If someone wanted to play with your kids, would you be offended if they asked you how you stored your guns? Or is the "Asking Saves Kids" campaign a good idea that can help save lives?

I think that knowing who your kids are spending time with is a good idea. But I think the focus on guns is a mistake.
There are a lot of things around a household that could be dangerous to kids if unsecured or improperly stored - and guns are not those most likely to be a problem. Would you feel better, if you had demanded that your kid's friend's father locked up his gun, and then had the kid run over by a car because they were playing in the street?
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCID_Unintentional_Deaths_2010-a.pdf

[Heffay]

Would you feel better, if you had demanded that your kid's friend's father locked up his gun, and then had the kid run over by a car because they were playing in the street?

Yes, absolutely. I'd feel a MILLION times better. It would be like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. Dodged another figurative bullet! Whew!