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My LO is still young, so I haven't given this much thought. We live in an area where hunting is huge, it is very common for people to have several hunting riffles in their house, so you know I might be asking to make sure these are all located in a gun safe or in a locked gun case.

No, we probably won't ask this. I trust that the people we send LO to will practice gun safety, just like we do.

Hmm never thought of it! We are in Canada though, and there are pretty strict laws. We know a few people with guns, all for hunting.

DH has his guns in a safe, separate from ammo, and the keys to the safe are with his car keys which are on him at most times. Even if someone took DHs keys, found the safe, got out a gun, they wouldn't have the ammo.... so if it were a kid they would have to know exactly what they were doing/what they were looking for. Something a young child would not know what to do unless they'd be taught how to use a gun or something. There would be no way to "accidentally" happen upon a gun in our home (or our friends).
The other people with guns follow the same practice of guns all locked up separate from ammo, etc.

Probably not. But we have a hunting rifle that isn't locked in a safe in our home, but I know my husband has taken precautions to make sure it's safe. (Ie it's taken apart, the pieces are in different places, the ammo is somewhere else, and there is a lock).

Personally, I'm more disturbed when I see children "playing" guns and nobody is teaching them about not pointing at people, even if it's just a stick the cold is pretending is a gun. We drove by a house yesterday, and a girl, probably 15, pointed a crossbow with some type of nerf or soft arrow on it at us the entire drive past her house. It was creepy. We will teach our kids not to imitate or play in a way that mimics harming people with weapons.

@mrsjazz: what boggles my mind is how anyone can hear all these stories and not immediately go through their homes and lock up any guns if they know they are having kids over. Do these people not watch the news?

No, probably not.

I know the stories are in the news a lot and the perception is that it's a frequent occurrence, but if it were frequent, it wouldn't be news. They're tragic, devastatingly heart-wrenching stories but thankfully, it's rare.

No because I'm not going to leave my kids at anyone's house... Or let them play out of eyeshot while visiting.

I will teach them gun safety though, from a young age.

My issue is that people seem to have different interpretations of "responsible" when it comes to gun ownership. I feel that guns should be locked up, ammunition separately. But I know this isn't always the case.

I also get nervous when people say that they have a gun but it's not locked up. Heaven forbid they get robbed, that's another gun on the streets.

i don't know anyone who has or would have a gun, so it's a non issue for us here (canada).

Most of the people we see do not have guns and it isn't an issue. We did visit a house with guns with our son and put him to bed in the pnp in the bedroom. There was a gun in there. My husband did make sure that it was unloaded (he asked and they double checked together). The likelyhood is that my son wouldn't even be able to get out of the pnp (he hasn't done it yet and he is over 2) but he asked and checked.

We didn't ask just going over because he was with us all the time but when we left him in the room we did.

@Navy_Mommy: I agree. Gun safety needs to start with children. If you never teach your child to not touch guns, you can't expect them to never be curious.

It is DH and I's policy to teach our LO how to handle a gun properly. I think that it is impossible to know whether if you leave your child with someone if they have guns and if they are properly locked up. I think that if you teach your child proper gun safety, such as handling that it would reduce the risk of any gun accidents versus asking the person if they keep their guns locked. Even if the person keeps their guns locked up properly who is to say that it is properly locked up all the time. My DH grew up hunting and we have family that still keeps guns, and even though we do not own guns in our home, we will make sure to teach our LO's how to handle one so it is to prevent any accidents.

@mrsjazz: All of these recent stories are making me paranoid, as well.

And we own multiple guns and know almost no one who doesn't own at least one, so I'm still not sure how we'll handle this. I know our son with be heavily instructed on gun safety, though. We don't even let our friends' kids come over without doing a house check of all our guns, to be sure everything is put away, but I'd never assume others are acting in a similar manner.

I don't know what we will do. Like @Lozza: I would assume most people do NOT have guns-- I live in the city, people do NOT go hunting around here, and honestly, I believe most people around here, me included, do not know that much about gun safety. I certainly do not know enough that I'd feel comfortable teaching my child enough about gun safety-- I've literally never seen a gun in person other than attached to a police officer's holster.

So I don't really know-- I'll teach my kids that they should never touch one, and not to point play guns at people, but otherwise I guess I'll have to wait and see when they first start having play dates with parents who aren't already my friends.

I do know my younger BIL got a gun because he thought it was a cool idea... I also know he wasn't raised with guns and most likely is not following proper precautions, so there will be a big inquisition before we ever bring our baby to his house!

I always assumed that people would be responsible with gun safety around kids until I met my IL's. I don't know how comfortable I am with their definitions of "locking" guns up (key just sits at the top of the case) and keeping ammo separate (again just in a drawer at the bottom of the case).

I like the idea of making sure our LO knows and understands gun safety. I also think I'll be more focused on feeling comfortable with parents, not asking if they have guns. I think usually you can tell if someone has their stuff together or if they might be a parent who misses important things like not leaving a loaded gun within the reach of kids. I think we've ALL met someone like that every now and then... where you just feel like they're a little "off." Trusting my gut and then asking questions if my gut tells me too!

Maybe I am naive, but I will be instructing my son not to touch a weapon of any kind, to leave the room immediately and call me to come pick him up. If a child brings a weapon into my home, I will call the police as soon as I know about it.

I don't know what else would constitute gun safety, honestly, because no good can come of curious kids and a gun.

No I will not. If I felt there was even a need to ask, then my LO wouldn't be going to their house alone anyway.