Yep, we ask It really dependes on the people. If I know and trust them, as long as the guns are out of reach from the kids, and the parents are home, supervising the kids, I let ds1 go. If it's a new friend, no way. I would let him play if there wasn't any ammo in the house.
There is one child who's house ds isn't allowed over, and I don't even know if they have real guns, but they do have bbguns. Ds went over, called me to ask if he could "play" with the bbguns. I said no. He came home and admitted that he did "play" with them; and that the child (8 or 9) was shooting at ds and at his mom, thinking it was funny! I asked if the child's mom was supervising the bbgun stuff, ds said no. Never again.
Kristi
__________________ "Honest criticism means nothing: what one wants is unrestrained passion, fire for fire. ~Henry Miller
Location: the past is just that, the past. letting it all go.
Posts: 15,635
we have guns in our house with ammo (in my opinion whats the good of a gun without ammo?) but they have the safeties on, no bullet in the chamber (only in the mags) and are locked in a gun safe (only opens by finger-touch combination lock). i always ask when my children will be going to anyones house, if they have guns and how they are kept. máire went to a firing range when she was 7 and was taught to fire each of the guns we had. scared her and know she knows that guns are not something she wants to play with. she also knows that if she wants to learn to fire one, all she has to do is ask and we will go to the range again.
we have taken all pretend guns out of our house right now, because lylly is only 2 and cannot understand the difference between real guns and pretend guns.
i have no problem telling people, who ask if their kids can come over, about our guns and how they are kept. anyone who keeps guns should totally be aware of all safety precautions and never get pissy with another parent who asks about them.
now there have been incidences, at some hs playdates (not on federal or state land), where parents seem to let their kids run wild - going thru people purses and such. so those of us with concealed carry permits announced to the group that it wasnt a good idea to let ones kids go thru pocketbooks. the moms thought we were just being silly, so i said "okay girls we should show them why" and we all took out of guns to show them. i guess they never figured a person would carry a gun since about 7 of us each had guns (safety on, no bullet in the chamber, mag loaded) in their purse. but then, even if i didnt carry a gun i still wouldnt want kids going thru my purse!
i added this last part bc many people dont think to tell their kids to not go into someones purse or briefcase.
this is only my 2 cents, i would not like to get into a heated debate about gun control.
ETA: you can also ask about what sort of ammo they have (if they keep their ammo in or around the gun) they have a type of ammo that can be stopped by sheetrock( therefore doesnt keep bouncing around the house if fired).
Originally posted by branwyn máire went to a firing range when she was 7 and was taught to fire each of the guns we had.
I remember shooting blanks at targets in the back yard when I was a kid. Fun childhood memory for me.
Growing up as the daughter of a shooting instructor, later as a kid whose dad even carried his gun to church (He was a Federal Marshal), I always assume that people keep their guns safely locked away. Sadly, I know this is not the case.
I had never thought about asking other parents if they had guns. Thanks for posting this, as I will keep this in mind when Nora starts going to others' houses without me.
My kids are only 2 and 4 so we don't really have to face this at friends houses. My father, however, lives alone, in an apartment connected to his business. He has guns that are not locked in a gun cabinet, but are 'concealed'. I demanded (very politely and nicely) that he put them in the safe or gun cabinet while we visit. We only stay for a few hours, and I don't think that is to much to ask. He wanted to know why I didn't want my kids exposed to guns. I told him that when they were older and understood more, I would love for him to take them out to the range, and all that stuff, but at this young age, safety was paramount, and I didnt' want to risk anything. He agreed, and looks forward to the day he can teach them about gun safety. We don't have guns in our home, but we can't leave our house without seeing the guards with M-16s. DDs know they are guns, but don't quite understand the rest, and I am in NO hurry to explain it to them. I want them to remail young for as long as they can. My 4 year old knows that hunters use guns to kill animals, and the guards use guns to keep 'bad people' out of our neighborhood. That is enough for now.
So, when they are old enough to go to someone elses house (not one of my friends) I will be asking questions, and I will let them play at a house with unloaded guns, as long as the unloaded guns are locked. A gun is a gun is a gun.
I also don't see the point of having a gun with no ammo, unless it is a shotgun, rifle used only for hunting.
Just my thoughts...
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Amy
Army wife to John, mommy to Hannah 12-17-99 & Hope 01-06-02 & Hunter 09-01-05
I do not allow my kids to be left (without me) at a home with guns. Locked up, if I knew the parents really well and knew there was no risk of the kids finding the key, etc. Maybe. But how many stories do we hear on the news about kids shooting one another on accident, playing, because they "found" the key.....? Even with a parent in the house a 6 yr. old boy shot his sister last year here in Oregon. He took her into his parents room to show her the guns, Mom thought they were playing quietly and had just checked on them 10 min. earlier......he took one out and it was loaded. )o: She was killed. So for me, locked or not? No. Again, unless I knew the parents and knew them enough to know the guns were indeed totally away and could not at all be found or into the hands of the kids. I suppose if a parent kept the gun safe key on them it would be safest? But that would be ON them and not in their key ring in their purse, counter, etc. Again, way too accessible for my liking. Kids see, kids watch, kids are curious....and I don't believe you can teach a child gun safety and consider it no longer a risk. Another local story was a sheiff who kept his key on his key chain, on the key hanger.....he said he taught his sons all about gun safety, he thought his sons would never, ever touch his guns and knew why, etc. Another sad ending. )o: (We don't "do" play guns either....no reason to imo, I don't want my kiddos pretending to shoot one another, etc. If it happens, as I know kids use sticks and such, I'd simply explain why I don't like that kind of play.....they sometimes ignore me, LOL, and Justin continues to have his men "shoot" one another with their toothpick looking stick guns....but as long as I am not encouraging it by buying him guns, I am ok......actually, you know what, I HAVE gotten him guns....lol....I just remembered that his wooden pirate ship came with 2 men holding shotguns and we debated on it and agreed to not make an issue out of it. )
__________________ "Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity."
George Bernard Shaw
We have many guns and they are all locked up.. My younger children do not visit homes without me so it isn't a huge issue..especially since I already know they own guns and I know where they are. If I were going to leave one of them at a new friend's home then I would ask about guns. I would only feel comfortable if they were locked up and I would ask to see where they were...just to give myself peace of mind that they were in fact incapable of being discovered. I would also probably mention.. in a nonchalant but convincing manner.. how upset I would be if one of my children ever located a gun at someone's home and what a maniac I have been known to become when I think my children's health and safety has been put at risk.
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Does it matter to you if the answer is yes, but that they do not have ammunition?
I don't think I would buy this.. I mean.. no one I know has a gun and no ammunition lol ..
We have made it a point to educate all of our children about gun safety. But even so.. we know that a child's curiosity is often more powerful than their awareness of how safe or unsafe something is. I wouldn't allow any guns in my home that were not locked up.
kinda ot but everyone in my family owns at least one gun.. some of them are guns solely used for hunting. My sisters each own a small hand gun. My 94 year old Grandmother is packin' .. but, after a discussion with the other family members, we decided to secretly take her ammunition. She didn't remember where she had put it anyway and still thinks she's misplaced it. She would never allow us to just take it (she likes to believe that she is very much still in control of our family and we are certain it is this power trip that has kept her alive this long lol ) but knowing how jumpy she is and how bad her hearing is we didn't want her home health care worker to meet an untimely death just because she showed up 20 minutes early
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~ Sherrie ~
Loving my 5 sons
Me, 2nd from left, at my 20 year high school reunion.
Some people are like slinkies. Not really good for anything but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.
This is something where my thoughts would likely get me labelled as overprotective....that's ok with me. Generally speaking my children don't go into anyone's house without me. The neighborhood kids all seem to come to our house. So it hasn't ever come up.
But, I would definitely want to know and no way would my child go to house where there are guns without me. Not even if they are locked up.
My little brother is 13. Two years ago two of his friends were playing in one of the kid's houses. My brother was asked to come along but my mom said no because the mom of the boy whose house they were going to was at work still so there would not have even been an adult present.
Turns out that mom (single mom...not that it matters) had a loaded rifle under her bed. The kids were playing hide and seek. The boy who lived there hid under his mom's bed. When his friend came to find him he jokingly pointed the rifle that he found under there at his friend. He had no idea it was loaded. He shot his friend at point blank range in the head. He died instantly.
IMO kids just do not have the judgement skills that are needed when it comes to guns. The blurring of reality that comes with toys guns, video games, action figures, violent tv shows made for kids, etc does nothing to help foster these judgement skills.
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~Dannielle
Momma to Isabelle (8/95) and Mason (1/01)
IMO kids just do not have the judgement skills that are needed when it comes to guns. The blurring of reality that comes with toys guns, video games, action figures, violent tv shows made for kids, etc does nothing to help foster these judgement skills.
I definitely worry about this. I'm pretty anti-guns. That said, my father had guns which my mother did not allow him to keep in our home. So, whenever we visited his brother, he would "borrow" his guns and take us to target practice - which was fun.
We live in a community where approximately 40% of all homes have guns. I know for a fact that our neighbors across the street do as does one of my very closest friends in the area. I go back and forth between thinking that I can handle it and wondering how I would feel if, God forbid, there was an accident involving my child. So, I think it'll have to be on a case by case basis. My good friend has theirs in a gun safe in a secret, locked room in their house and the gun is stored unloaded. The kids don't even know that the room exists. First, they would have to find the room, then figure out how to get in, then figure out how to unlock the locked gun safe, then figure out where the ammo was, figure out how to load it, etc.
but, unless I know that the guns are stored that securely, no way. And, I will ask the parents whenever my dd goes to play at a new persons house.
Originally posted by freespiritmom I don't think I would buy this.. I mean.. no one I know has a gun and no ammunition lol ..
We do. I actually didn't think about the fact that we have guns in our house until I read this thread. We house share with my parents (they live mostly in Arizona but stay up here with us every couple months) and my dad has vintage rifles that were his grandfather's. They are kept in a gun safe in my parents closet and the key is in Arizona. We have no ammo for them as they are never fired.
I always said we would never have guns in our house, but sometimes you have to compromise when you live with others. I figure locked up with a key in another state and no ammo is about as safe as we can get.
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Allison
mama to Ara, Simone, and Zarin
If everything was locked up I'd have no problem with it.
One of my best friend's dh is a gun dealer. Thet have many guns in their house. THe guns and all ammo are kept in a gun safe. Not a gun cabinet with a lock but a *safe*, big ole combination lock fire safe, built into the wall of their basement and all. I wouldn't hesitate to leave my kids in their care.
When dh's get his gun in the fall it and will be put in a combination safe in the basement.
I think every home in my family has at least 1 hunting rifle in it.
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Michelle
Wife to one Mama to four.
I try to send the message to my kids when younger that if a gun of any kind appears in view.....they must call me to get them immediately (in case they were somewhere and I hadn't known a gun was there)
My 13 yr old still is to do this. I don't want him playing with pellet guns, etc either.
Just our policy and I hope it is implemented by the kids.
It really dependes on the people. If I know and trust them, as long as the guns are out of reach from the kids, and the parents are home, supervising the kids, I let ds1 go. If it's a new friend, no way. I would let him play if there wasn't any ammo in the house.
Fun childhood memory for me. 
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