ASK about GUNS - - -

[Marlin]

Here's an interesting tidbit from yesterday's CNSNews. Fortunately, as far as doctors are concerned, here in "Red Neck" country, they all have guns, hunt and one of mine is a champion .45 competition shooter.

Of course my answer is that it's none of anybodies DA** business how I exercise my ABSOLUTE 2nd Amendment right!

Emphises in article are mine-M
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Parents Urged to Ask About Guns in Other People's Homes
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
June 21, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - On this first day of summer, anti-gun groups are observing the fifth annual National ASK Day -- ASK, an acronym for "asking saves kids."

Anti-gun activists say with most children now out of school, the question parents should be asking is this: "Is there a gun where your child plays?"

Groups taking part in National ASK Day include Pax/Real Solutions to Gun Violence (in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics); Physicians for Social Responsibility; CeaseFire PA; and Million Mom March Chapters of Pennsylvania.

Representatives from those groups plan to hold an "educational" press conference at noon on Tuesday in Philadelphia -- "to inform parents and physicians of strategies to reduce the threat of gun violence to children," as the press release put it.

According to the Pax anti-gun coalition, more than 40 percent of American homes with children have guns, and many of those guns, it says, are kept unlocked and loaded. Each year thousands of children are killed or injured in shootings involving these guns, the press release said.

The ASK Campaign encourages parents to ask their neighbors if they have a gun in the home before sending their children out to play, and it also encourages physicians to ask their patients if they have guns in the house.

Pax launched its first ASK campaign in the fall of 2000, and it says in the program's first two years, the number of parents who said guns are a top concern when their children visit someone's home rose from 5 percent to 19 percent.

The number of parents who said they have been asked about guns in their home rose from 5 percent to 10 percent in the same time period, Pax said.

"Parents are now talking with their neighbors about guns in the home as a routine part of good parenting, bringing the issue out into the open for the first time," PAX said on its website.

"Through the ASK Campaign, America is changing the way it looks at guns and gun violence, and most importantly, lives are being saved," the group claimed.

ASK is sponsored by the American Medical Association, and its endorsers include the following:

American Federation of Teachers
American Public Health Association
Children's Defense Fund
The Interfaith Alliance Foundation
National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Education Association
National Head Start Association
National Parenting Association
Physicians For Social Responsibility
Police Executive Research Forum
Police Foundation

Pax/Real Solutions to Gun Violence describes itself as "the largest non-political, nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the gun violence epidemic in America."

This year, the group has partnered with Good Housekeeping magazine in sponsoring a contest that asks communities to "spell out the letters A-S-K in the most creative and compelling way possible."

Pax also is distributing brochures offering tips in English and Spanish on how to ask about guns in other people's homes; and it urges concerned citizens to write articles and letters to the editor (sample provided) to spread the word about the ASK Campaign.

comment note - This is the way to go!!

Second Amendment groups such as the National Rifle Association have long advocated programs that teach children gun safety as the best way to reduce accidental shootings in homes with guns.

Some Second Amendment advocates also note that statistics on the number of children killed or injured by guns are skewed by the inclusion of older teenagers -- gang members and other criminals who don't care about gun safety and have no respect for the law.



Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.


© 2005 Cybercast News Service.

[Carl S]

A couple of years ago, there was an uproar in some states because teachers were asking the students if there were guns in their homes. If memory serves me correctly (no guarantee on that!), Colorado was one of those states.

[155gunner]

Several years ago my daughter's pediatrician asked, "Do you have a gun in the house?" I replied "no". Of course I failed to mention there were several guns in the house, not just 'a' gun.

[dvl]

Are there knives in the kitchen? Are the car keys sometimes left on the counter? Is there Drano under the sink? Are there bars on all of the second floor windows? Is there traffic on the street in front of the house?

The thing I like least about that question is the inference the questioner will make if you tell them it's not their business. To me there is no right or wrong answer, only a factually correct one. But the motivation for asking it pretty much assures us that the asker sees it differently.

[1952Sniper]

If a doctor had the guts to ask me if I had guns in the house, I'd tell him it's none of his GD business. Fortunately, though, down where I live this is not an issue. Even the doctors have guns in their houses and hunting pictures on the walls of their offices.

[dvl]

One local doctor has dummy bazooka rounds and other such things on display in his office. Another is a shooting buddy about to get his first Garand. If I got asked and said "No", they'd probably ask "Why not?"

[armedandsafe]

The only time I was asked this, I answered with a question: "Do you have scalpels in your drawer, right here?" The Dr. grinned and said "No, but I have a 38 in the car." He then tossed the state gov't form in the trash can.

Pops

[rosierita]

The only time I was asked this, I answered with a question: "Do you have scalpels in your drawer, right here?" The Dr. grinned and said "No, but I have a 38 in the car." He then tossed the state gov't form in the trash can.

LOL!!

i love for people to ask me if i have guns. i'm SOOOOO not politically correct.

heehee, i was having a similar convo w/ my uncle a few wks ago. actually we were talking about people who are offended by your having firearms in your home.. anyway, i was telling him about troy's brother & his wife, who, since finding out we have loaded firearms have not stepped foot into our home. LOL! my uncle's response to my saying that was, "what did you tell her allyson??" then he said "i would have said, well thanks for letting me know it offends you, just for that, i'll load a couple more." LMBO! i get it honest.

then he said when he's asked if he has guns in his home his standard reply is "yes & they are loaded & in ALL THE WRONG PLACES" LMBO.

[Marlin]

Trouble Maker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dvl]

"Yes, I have guns, one next to each window."

"No, they're in the car."

"No, I'm afraid that they might discharge the explosives."

"Um, is artillary considered 'guns'?"

"No, I have hand grenades. I throw better than I shoot."

"The last guy who asked me that climbed through my living room window in the middle of the night. You could ask his widow."

[rosierita]

[stash247]

No, to "guns". Now, rifles, pistols, revolvers, shotguns, might get a different answer, but, might not!
When I was growing up, in rural NC, often a rifle or two went with me and my schoolmates, so we could hunt squirrel on the way home; a pocket knife was an everyday tool, not a weapon.
We prayed, in school, daily, said a blessing before lunch, always started the day with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Before 15, the only shooting I ever heard of was a revenue agent, "accidentally" shot in a "hunting accident", out in Barne's woods, and he wasn't from around there, but snoopin' too close to a still!
Kids, and Grownups, too, used words like 'sir', 'ma'am', 'please', 'thank you', and 'God', often.
Perhaps we just have a spelling problem in our government; If the question was, "Is there a God in your home", far fewer would ask, and those asked might scare the devil out of their askers with their answer!

[ponycar17]

Originally Posted by 155gunner

Several years ago my daughter's pediatrician asked, "Do you have a gun in the house?" I replied "no". Of course I failed to mention there were several guns in the house, not just 'a' gun.

Oh yeah, I can't wait for when we have kids now... A teacher, fellow parent, or doctor asking my kid whether we have guns in the house will go over like a fart in church with me... I'll likely say things unpleasant to their ears.

[stash247]

How do you delicately tell the doctor that the girls have been shooting, since seven, and competitively, since ten, without guns???
My daughters are much of my kife, and a doctor asking such questions would be mortally embarassesd at the answers he got, where I live, since we all shoot!
The kids know what a rifle/pistol/ revolver is/does/ can do, and, as such, respect them. We shoot together, when we are able, but, we shoot!
How can one teach a child about fire, by hiding all the matches???
Better, they should shoot, consider, shoot some more, and learn, than be ignorant by design, as some parents believe.
I would trust my life to the judgement, and marksmanship, of either of my daughters, without hesitation.
Would your doctor do as much???
Stoopid question- guns in the home!!
Progressive answer, to stoopid question, is: Hell Yes; how else will they survve!!!

[dge479]

Well if anyone needs to know, I have guns, have a child and if someone elses parents have a problem with it , they dont need to be here
I keep mine safe and locked but accessable to me if the need arises.
If that aint good enough too bad.

[Deputy Dawg]

I have three chidren ,son 13 daughter 15, daughter 20, and they all have been shooting since they were three years old. Started with a Chipmunk single shot 22.Now my oldest wants to get her CHL when she turns 21.

[stash247]

D. Dog, you're on the right website; I just hope you vote, early, and often.
Kids, with guns, are, to many folks, a threat, as they never really understood the rules; My kids, with guns, are my second life insurance policy!
Both girls understand the rules of engagement, according to 'dad', and will cover his 6 to the end!
Both shoot as well, or better, than me, depending on motivation, and both are proudly accepted,as such.
Terrorists, no, unless one makes them such, but effective, YES, with ribbons!!!
I'm an ex Special Forces Trooper, with really limited periferal vision, where "mission" is concerned; the kids carry all the trump cards, to cover my "6".
Point is, they shoot, and well. And figger, for themselves, also very well.Should any out there meet my kids, seriously, the smart move is to stand down. I would!
Good kids, given good values, deliver good results, firearms being just one tool; did I mention that the elder daughter is a student of the study of binary liquid explosives, as well?

[Deputy Dawg]

I do vote early and allways for the people,who are not trying to take my guns away,unless they prove different then i vote for some else.They get one shot and one shot only to protect my gun rights.Any gun law is a bad gun law. LOCK and LOAD. O buy the way,Rosierita you and your uncle think like i do. I guess it is true all great minds think alike.

[Salvage33]

My former doctor...please note the term "FORMER"...asked me if I had guns in the house while I was in for my annual physical. I've known him since my highschool days, went to college with him, and have even shot doves with him. I just looked at him like he was a bug, then buttoned up my shirt and walked out of his office. Just before the door closed, I turned to him and told him not to even think about sending me a bill. He said he probably would. I replied "the last time you had your butt kicked, I did it....and if I get a bill, you'll get it kicked again." I didn't get a bill. However, I know of at least ten other patients who dropped him like a hot rock when he asked them about guns in their homes.

Serves him right...he was getting that "god complex" anyway.

John

[Deputy Dawg]

The nerve of some poeple, it is none of there business.I think i need to go out and buy some more to feel good again.

[mpdc3870]

Stash247, loved your post on the good ole' days. Too bad things aren't like that anymore. It's funny though that to whatever degree society has gone downhill, I can attribute the changes to the liberal freako self-important dingbats that look down at us as if WE were the reason things have changed. As far as other parents asking me about weapons in my home, I'd have absolutely no problems explaining to them exactly what I have and describing how each is locked and inaccessible. I'm proud to be an American, hunter, & shooting enthusiast, and have no need to be embarrassed or defensive about it. If THEY don't feel comfortable with it, they don't need to bring their kids to my house. I reserve the same right to be selective about where my kid goes and with whom. I don't think the suggestion for parents to ask about firearms in other peoples homes is inherently bad. Unfortunately, the anti's have once again taken a reasonable concept and lightly massaged it to fulfill their agenda. In this context, the anti's are asking about "guns" in the home as if they might be monsters under the bed (Yeah, I have a .243 in the closet..just don't look at it when you walk past and you should be alright!). None of us need to be concerned about firearms in other peoples homes, what we need to be sure of is that the home owner is a RESPONSIBLE owner should he/she choose to keep them in the house while children are present. Now as far as doctors and such concerning themselves about my firearms, I can't quite figure that one out. I'm a cop, and I remember running into one of my customers while I was off duty doing some shopping, he kinda smirked seeing me out of uniform and asked me "You got your gun on you now?", I just smiled and asked him "How bad do you want to find out?"...Maybe I'll answer the doctor the same way if I get quizzed while I'm getting the next "turn yer' head and cough."

[targetacqmgt]

"Guns" to an ole gunnersmate are heavy artillery you know 5"38cal or 5"54cal turret mounted naval "guns" or the main "gun" on a tank or self propelled tracked vehicle. So no I do not have any "guns"

YET

[JohnHenry]

I have some "firearms" .... I do not have any "guns" .

I have two kids ( well, they were kids .... they've long since grown-up ) that I started training to shot when they turned 6 years old.
My son is now Senior Deputy Sheriff for Harris County, TX. .... Daughter was one of the first girls, from Michigan, accepted as a cadet at the Citadel, in Charleston, SC.

Ask my "kids" if the house had guns while they were growing up.

[stumpjumper]

when my daughters were asked if their dad had a gun, the stock answer was "no, he has an arsenal" funny how none of the boyfriends ever asked to see any.