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@mrbee: I still wouldn't say it's too common to own a gun in DC/northern VA though! DC gun laws are pretty strict and in Northern VA (where I grew up) I knew maybe a couple people who had hunting guns, but that was it. Southern/Western VA is a whole different story, though
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We may be in the minority here on HB @MrsTiz but I do believe that regardless of what the NY Times says, gun owners are not the minority in this country.
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@MrsTiz: yeah, I'm wondering how those figures on gun ownership are calculated since in several states, guns don't even have to be registered legally.
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@Arden: I live like an hour north of you, and honestly, I know more women who carry in their purse than men who carry holsters outside of the woods. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled, though, and see if I notice them more. Maybe I'm crazy, but we are part of a very large gun owning group and community, and I never see anyone hip wear, that's why I commented that I thought it was more of a Texas thing.
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@MrsTiz: You're not in the minority. At least, not in my neck of the woods. Open carry isn't legal here, but concealed carry is and a lot of guys I know carry, but you can't see their pieces and I never think about it. I don't feel unsafe in the least. I'll probably worry more about car seat safety since cars kill a hell of a lot more people and kids than guns do.
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We lived in Kansas last and there were big signs up all over that were "no gun". I was flabbergasted the first time I saw one, I think it was at the library!
@Arden: whoa! I've maybe seen... one gun in real life that wasn't on a police officer's hip. I have an irrational fear of them and being around them - If lots of people around me are carrying concealed weapons I'd rather not know about it !(I have no idea what the laws even are around me, we just moved to a different state)
@mrstiz i cannot imagine!
We'll probably ask because I would be more comfortable knowing that they were locked up. I don't know why someone wouldn't have them safely stored if they had kids - but better safe than sorry.
I'd never let my LO go play at someone's house who smoked but (responsible) gun ownership wouldn't be an issue for me.
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@Meltini: The survey was from the General Social Survey... it's cited by a lot of other sources too. Gallup also shows a decrease in gun ownership, although not as much.
I do think there are growing regional differences here. There's a really great book by Bill Bishop called, "The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded American is Tearing Us Apart."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077FAYES/It talks about how like-minded people are moving into the same towns and clustering together... that's definitely a trend that we're seeing here in my local neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The book talks about how that trend is kicking in other places like Austin, Texas, and how on the flip side, the people moving out of Austin are clustering together in other more conservative-friendly areas.
That explains a lot about how we can all see such clear trends in our region, and yet nationwide trends can show something different... I think a lot of people felt a sense of disorientation in the last elections when national polls showed something different from what was evident in a particular region.
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@MrsTiz: I think it's worth pointing out to our fellow Americans that not only is the gentleman in the first picture wearing his weapon openly, but the hammer also appears to be pulled back.
I live in a CC state. I assume that lots of people are exercising their right to own firearms and carry them--and that some of them will make bad choices--and I make my decisions accordingly. But I once lived in a place where you could walk around with a gun openly on your hip and, you know what--people did. And law and order pretty much reigned there. (That backwater was the Washington DC suburbs. The nice ones, where a starter house is half a million dollars.)
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@honeybear: really? That is very surprising to me because I grew up in the suburbs of DC and pretty much no one I knew owned a gun and I definitely never in my life saw one on someone's hip!
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@MrsTiz: Yes, I was definitely thinking along those lines!
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@MrsSCB: Yes. I saw them in restaurants. Schools and places of worship are off-limits, so children are fairly insulated.
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@honeybear: definitely must be different suburbs -- I still spend a lot of time there (my family is all still there) and have never seen any in restaurants, bars, malls, etc. This thread has been really interesting seeing how much things differ by region!
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@mrbee: I'm going to pick up that book. I live in a very conservative city and was laughing after the election when people were so confused around here as to how Obama won. I saw multiple Facebook postings where people mentioned that they didn't know anyone personally who voted for him, so there's no way he could have won. I know some real geniuses.
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@BananaPancakes: Yah the "big sort" is leading to a real fracturing of America... so many of us are hanging out with each other, and listening to our own cable TV and radio shows, and experiencing something very different from our fellow country men and women.
I think things are better when we all live together and learn to get along...
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This had me really curious so I tried to find some sort of list of states with the most and least guns per capita (hey-- did you know it's hard to find unbiased gun information on the internet??)
This is the closest I could find: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/06/28/states-with-the-most-guns.html
Listing out the number of gun background checks per capita-- so far from a perfect measure OR unbiased, but it does support what I was thinking, which is that most of us who are so shocked about people carrying weapons all the time probably live in the bottom 5 states on that list. I live in MA and it looks like I'm probably right in assuming almost no one I know has guns (taking a leap of logic, I'd assume there are more guns in Western Mass where it's much more country, than near Boston).@BananaPancakes: Funny you say that about the election-- I lived in NYC and Boston during the last two elections. I heard the exact opposite reaction.
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Interesting question. DH and I've been talking about it all night. We don't currently own a gun (and if we did it would only be for duck hunting and we'd keep it at dh's uncle's house because he has a gun safe). Guns are very common in my state.
But honestly, no, probably not. It would be a little odd and I'd feel rude. I doubt he'd be going over to play at people's houses whom I didn't know, though.
That being said...I would want to touch on a few things. Accidentally shootings make the news when they involve a four year old, but they are not rare outliers. Accidental gun deaths are declining but still 100 kids are injured a day from guns.
Half of gun owners don't lock up guns. Obviously responsible owners do and the ones I know feel very passionately about that. But think about it - keeping one under your bed in case their is an intruder is a reason a lot of people cite for wanting to keep a gun and then there is a gun that is not locked up.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/11/guns-child-deaths-more-than-cancer/2073259/
I plan on teaching our LOs that they should never touch a gun and to tell an adult right away if they see one. They can play with water guns and nerf guns (I think the idea there isn't pretend killing, but just to "get" someone). If they want to pretend play with a toy gun/stick/banana, I will tell them they can't point at people and they can pretend to be hunting. They can shoot wolves if they want something "bad" to shoot at.
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I probably wouldn't let DD play at a kids house when I know the parents are gun owners. I don't believe people should have guns (unless its for their job ie policeman/military), we aren't friends with anyone who has a gun (we don't single people out, it's just a coincidence), and I don't ever want my kid exposed to guns...period.
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This morning we had G's 2.5 year WBV at the ped. The PA asked, among other things, if we had guns in the home. I asked why and she said that it is an effort to educate parents and caregivers about the risks of having a gun in the home, find out if the guns are locked, if the ammunition is stored separately, etc.
My first thought is "what has this world come to" and my second thought is what they do with the information.
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@MrsSCB: @honeybear: Wow, I'm really confused. I live just outside DC in Maryland (I'm well inside the beltway, just outside the district line), and I NEVER see guns in MD or DC. EVER. (Law enforcement officials notwithstanding).
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@Lozza: It's not legal to open carry in DC or MD. Only in VA.
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@honeybear: I still don't think I've ever seen someone carrying openly in the VA suburbs I spend time in, like Arlington/Alexandria/Falls Church/Crystal City, etc.
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haha! This thread is crazy! I don't think I've ever even seen a real gun. Other than, maybe, in a museum or on a police officer (although, always in it's holster!)
Thankfully, I don't have to worry about this question because I'm not sure what I'd do! I'm up in Canada and don't know many people with guns. My uncle has a few hunting rifles (never seen them!) and I have a friend in the army who has a gun but I've never seen it.
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@Lozza: I have seen people open carry in those spots. I'm talking standard, upper middle-class suburban places (but not in bars because the Virginia Assembly in their wisdom pronounced guns and booze to be a bad combo...which I think is prudent!). It was more of an exception than a common occurrence in my experience, but I saw it a few times.
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@Lozza: same! Born and raised in Arlington (where my parents still live), went to high school in Fairfax County, and I've never seen anyone openly carry. Honestly, if someone were to carry a gun into a restaurant in, say, Clarendon, I think people would freak!
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@looch: I think it comes to the fact that firearms are a safety issue with children, and like any other medical information, it's confidential and they aren't doing anything with it.
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