Weerd has some good advice for?responding to “Are there guns in the house?” questions that the antis are pushing as a “safety” measure.
While there?is a certain aspect of safety involved in such questions, in that having unsecured, loaded firearms around young children is asking for trouble, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that the antis have some sort of ulterior motive like shaming legitimate gun owners. This?is the Brady Campaign, after all.
Weerd’s advice is good, and I’ll summarize it here:
- Shame. Bluntly asking people about personal, private things like gun ownership, particularly if you’ve just met, is rather forward and a little bit rude.?Being affronted by their questions is reasonable.
- Honesty.?Although you’re affronted, don’t lie. Don’t show them your guns or security, but don’t lie.
- Quid Pro Quo. If they’re bold enough to ask you private questions, turn the table: do they own guns? Do they know how to store?or handle them safely?
- Into The Fold! This is a good learning?opportunity: see if they’re interested in learning more about guns and gun safety.
- Social Stigma. If the other person responds irrationally in regards to your safe and lawful firearm ownership and denies their child a friend (in the form of your child), mention that to your friends. If they react this way about safely and lawfully owned firearms, how would they react to other situations?
- Remember the Children. Keep in mind that the kids are innocent bystanders here and are just interested in being friends with others.?Assuming that the other parent’s home is reasonably safe?(i.e., the pool is fenced, household chemicals and knives are secured and out of reach, etc.), there’s no reason to prevent your child from playing over there, having a good time, and socializing.
Read the whole thing.
I’m a big fan of #3 — take advantage of a situation and turn it into a learning opportunity. When I was working on my bachelors degree I’d do this frequently with other students, particularly those who had no experience with firearms. It worked out really well, and everyone had a fun time (particularly at the range).
Glad you liked it! That post was a long time coming! When I first heard about “Ask” (First from the Joyce Foundation) my general idea was “Get off my property!”
Now that I’m a father, I know that such a prickly reaction will harm my daughter in the long run. Plus my wife doesn’t play rough like I do. She even told me that I could NOT put a “Come back with a Warrant” door mat on our front step!
So I came up with this method, taking a cue from the LGBTEIEIO community. This method has certainly done them a LOT of good these days, I don’t see how being a gun owner is much different.
Thanks for writing it, as well as taking the time to comment here.
My wife can be prickly on occasion (I just asked, she said she’d be cool with such a doormat). Then again, we both can be if poked and prodded, so we work really well together.
I’ll be a new father in about a month and a half, so I’m (very nearly) in your same situation and may have to deal with such questions in the future and rather than just blowing people off it’ll be good to take your advice and try to bring them into the fold.
I have several LGBT friends (some of who are gunnies), and you’re right: the strategy is a sound one and it’s good to adapt to our purposes.