Guns in the House

[Anjelica]

I guess I look at things differently. 30 seconds is a long time when someone is breaking into your house and you're startled awake by a noise from a dead sleep. I would be concerned that the noise that wakes you could be the sound of your husband or children. I also live in an apartment, so there isn't much time between getting through the door and getting to me.

Again, what do you do when you have a family member who doesn't follow the safety procedures? Call the cops on them? I think some people "some -- NOT all" feel that their right to bear arms supercedes the rights of others and the whole world can go to **ll because the Constitution says they have that right and they don't need to consider anyone else.

Yes, I'm against gun ownership IN MY HOUSE. If it works for you, great. I just don't see the need to tempt fate anymore than is necessary. Just because someone passes a background check does not mean that they should be owning handguns. Too many people with depression, alcoholism, drug addiction that should not own guns.

My husband knows the alarm code - he can turn the alarm off when he comes in the door. My children are two small to know how to turn the alarm off but they also sleep on the same floor as DH and I. I think what you may be missing is the gun is a last resort for the protection of my family. We have an alarm system, we have a large dog, we sleep on the second floor, etc. but if someone is going to come into my house, set off the alarm and NOT be scared away by that alarm system (which by the way sends an automatic dispatch to the police, etc.) then my last line of defense is my gun.

I have no problem with folks who are against gun ownership in their own households. For my household it works.

 

[Anjelica]

Unfortunately, in this case, the "morons" (as you put it) end up causing other folks to "die out", and often do so from a distance. That's two fundamental aspects that make this scenario very unique.

Maybe I missed something but why did the parent(s) - including the mother he killed - allow him to have a gun and ammunition in his room? Not begrudging this mothers death, however it would appear that the parent(s) fell into the moron category.

 

[charliebrown]

This is even scarier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRRxZ9bVZ4c&feature=related

Who would even THINK of doing this^^^^

Epic FAIL!

 

[sbell111]

I guess I look at things differently. 30 seconds is a long time when someone is breaking into your house and you're startled awake by a noise from a dead sleep.

Agreed. I would be very surprised if it took me half that time to wake up and remove my handgun from it's safe in my bedside table.

I would be concerned that the noise that wakes you could be the sound of your husband or children. I also live in an apartment, so there isn't much time between getting through the door and getting to me.

So what if the noise IS my spouse or child. Just because I've accessed my weapon doesn't mean that I have to shoot someone with it, after all.

Again, what do you do when you have a family member who doesn't follow the safety procedures? Call the cops on them?

A family member that doesn't follow safety procedures would not be authorized to access the weapon.

I think some people "some -- NOT all" feel that their right to bear arms supercedes the rights of others and the whole world can go to **ll because the Constitution says they have that right and they don't need to consider anyone else.

Not to put to fine a point on it, but my right to bear arms does supercede any rights that you have. Luckily, my right to bear arms doesn't affect any of your rights in any way.

Yes, I'm against gun ownership IN MY HOUSE. If it works for you, great. I just don't see the need to tempt fate anymore than is necessary. Just because someone passes a background check does not mean that they should be owning handguns. Too many people with depression, alcoholism, drug addiction that should not own guns.

I don't see my owning a firearm to be tempting fate, since I practice gun safety and do not suffer from any of the ailments that you fear of me.

 

[sbell111]

Unfortunately, in this case, the "morons" (as you put it) end up causing other folks to "die out", and often do so from a distance. That's two fundamental aspects that make this scenario very unique.

You've made several posts to this thread, but still haven't made your position clear.

 

[brerrabbit]

This discussion comes around every so often and in the end it certainly is a personal choice when it comes to gun ownership and peoples rights to do so. I am a gun owner and I am very aware of the arguements both for and against it. While I can see the point of an earlier poster that guns don't kill people, people kill people the sad reality is that guns are one of the most effective ways of doing the job. If the kid was disturbed and did not have a the gun available he certainly could have sought an alternative method but the facts and stastitics show that he probably would not have been succesful. The availability of guns to the untrained, unfamiliar and children certainly account for many problems. If I recall my stats correctly countries that have severly restrictive gun ownership laws, and countries where gun ownership is outright banned have much lower murder rates because to kill someone in a fit of rage, which is when most murders are commited is much more personal (up close with a knife, blunt object, or direct physical force) and much harder to do. A gun is a very efficient killer, just aim and squeeze the trigger.

While it might sound like I am opposed to guns I am not at all. As an earlier poster pointed out our feelings about guns derive from our personal history and heritage, I can say that is certainly the case with me. I am 6th generation Texan and everyone in my family has guns, many passed from generation to generation. The idea of having guns in the house is not at all a foreign concept to us. As a result we learn to respect them and how to handle them from a very early age. I started shooting when I was 5 years old. However I never got to touch a gun if not with my Father. They were locked up in a safe or with trigger locks. Kids never had access to them without parents around.

Part of my reasoning about gun ownership is this, we are a free society with more rights and liberties than almost any other country in the world. As we have heard so many times with those liberties come obligations, and one of the obligations in my estimation is the proper use, storage and protection of my guns. I will not give them up, they will not be taken from me. As a matter of fact if you visited my home as an invited guest you would never even know I had guns. However as an uninvited guest with less than honest intentions you would find out pretty quickly.

I don't know how you enforce gun responsibility among gun owners but can honestly say that people like those in the story give all gun owners a black eye and until these types of incidents stop gun owners will forever be hounded about their deceision to own guns.

 

[aprilgail2]

I teach 6th grade and don't have any 10 year olds. My students are 11-12.
.

Ten year olds are in 4th-5th grade, not sixth.

That is regional- our cut off is such that for the first 3 months of 6th grade the kids are 10 years old. Believe me-I am POSITIVE about this as my daughter was 10 years old for the first three months of this school year and is in 6th grade- as are her friends!

I am curious, though. Do those of you who refuse to let your kids visit a home where there are guns, do you actually question your friends and neighbors or pull surprise inspections? Most people I know who have guns keep them secure and you could know them for years without never knowing they have guns.

I asked before I let my child go there and to be honest I would have nothing in common with people that hunt so none of my friends are hunters or have guns.

 

[DonkeyGreatness]

Even if there were no guns in the house, this kid would have found some other way to kill him Mom.

Conjecture.

 

[DonkeyGreatness]

You've made several posts to this thread, but still haven't made your position clear.

I can't be sure but I think maybe Bicker is calling for random home inspections? Bicker correct me if I'm wrong. And I wouldn't mind that one bit.

Any homes found to have guns randomly laying around.. the guns are removed and the kids are taken to child services.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

We don't own any guns, nor do I ever plan on owning a gun. DD will not be allowed in a home in which I know there is a gun. I just don't believe in it, too many accidents.

Why on earth would this child's grandfather give him a GUN at the age of 10?!?! And knowing that he was disturbed?

Sad story, especially for the daughter of the victim.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

This is even scarier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRRxZ9bVZ4c&feature=related

Who would even THINK of doing this^^^^

Epic FAIL!

thats scary!

 

[design_mom]

Do those of you who refuse to let your kids visit a home where there are guns, do you actually question your friends and neighbors or pull surprise inspections? Most people I know who have guns keep them secure and you could know them for years without never knowing they have guns.

I am not totally against guns, but I have asked friends/neighbors if they have guns in the house and/or if they are safely stored. Of course, I have to take their word for it.

The availability of guns to the untrained, unfamiliar and children certainly account for many problems

(portions removed for brevity)

The idea of having guns in the house is not at all a foreign concept to us. As a result we learn to respect them and how to handle them from a very early age.

I think this is kind of a key point. My father had a gun collection. Honestly, they were not stored very safely either. The guns were hanging on a wall for display or in an unlocked cabinet. The ammo was on a shelf in his closet. He also kept a loaded gun in his desk drawer. He showed it to my sister and me once and told us never to touch it. We never did.

When we had kids I had a talk with my parents about their guns. The guns are now stored in a locked gun cabinet, and the ammo is in their regular safe. There is no longer a loaded gun in the house. (My mother freaked out about that. Apparently she never knew he kept that there.)

I do not have guns in my house, nor do I have any desire to have one. However, I think I have a healthy respect for them. If I were to see a gun I would *assume* it was a real gun that could kill someone.

Although my kids have been told *many* times that they should treat all guns as real loaded, weapons until they are 100% sure they are not, I still worry. If they found a gun laying around at someone's house I'm afraid they'd think that it was a toy because they are not used to seeing real guns around.

Obviously, this was not the problem in the OP -- where the boy went and loaded his gun before killing his mother -- but I agree that there were *numerous* bad decisions made there that really can't be pinned on *all* gun-owning families.

 

[charliebrown]

thats scary!

Thank you!!!!!

 

[BellvilleDad]

I can't be sure but I think maybe Bicker is calling for random home inspections? Bicker correct me if I'm wrong. And I wouldn't mind that one bit.

Any homes found to have guns randomly laying around.. the guns are removed and the kids are taken to child services.

 

[tvguy]

I do not have a functioning gun in my house (I have an antique gun in a safe), but this is the flip side, why you may want to have a gun in your home with children.

A man this morning breakups up a fight outside his hotel room. Man returns to his hotel room that his wife and children are in. One of the combatants breaks into that room, angry that the guy broke up the fight.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=115673&catid=2

To be honest, it isn't a black and white issue.

 

[mamacatnv]

I asked before I let my child go there and to be honest I would have nothing in common with people that hunt so none of my friends are hunters or have guns.

How do you know you have nothing in common with people who hunt?
I don't hunt. Frankly I'm am too lazy! Its too cold! I don't like to rough it and why would I, when I can go to the local butcher?
However, I have tons of friends and some family that do hunt including my son who was not raised with "hunters" for parents. Its not like hunting is all they know, do, eat, breathe and sleep hunting....They actually have other hobbies, lives, jobs and interests. Really, they do!

 

[Colleen27]

A 10yo kid who kills his mother after arguing over doing his chores has a lot bigger issues than whether or not there's a gun in the house.

There are plenty of good reasons not to have guns in a home with small children - too many accidental shootings start with that scenario - but this particular story hardly supports that POV. This wasn't some young kid who didn't know what he was doing; it was a boy old enough to act with the intention of doing harm and ample understanding of the consequences of that act, lashing out against his mother for whatever reason.

 

[Colleen27]

I asked before I let my child go there and to be honest I would have nothing in common with people that hunt so none of my friends are hunters or have guns.

Huh? Hunting is a hobby like any other, not an all encompassing lifestyle choice or something. That's like saying you wouldn't have anything in common with people who ski or scrapbook - one hobby doesn't define a person's entire existence.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Conjecture.

Considering this isn't a courtroom, that's my prerogative.

 

[aprilgail2]

Huh? Hunting is a hobby like any other, not an all encompassing lifestyle choice or something. That's like saying you wouldn't have anything in common with people who ski or scrapbook - one hobby doesn't define a person's entire existence.

Not really to me---its a lifestyle. I could not possibly be friends with someone that went out and killed animals- just would not work.