Anti-gun Contract for new school year

[Believer1997]

Let me further my last statement by adding this. I remember when I was in basic training. We were doing our gernade qualifications. Before our qualifications the Drill Sgts taught us the proper way to throw the gernade, what to do when it lands, so on and so on. There was one thing they stressed when you toss the gernade make sure you duck down behind the concrete wall. They made it to where we were not ignorant. Well, when it came to qualifcations one pvt decided to look at his handy work in throwing the gernade. The Drill Sgts then had to grab him and slam him into the concrete wall. You see what this guy did was careless and could have cost him. Sometimes teaching someone how to do something does not guarantee, that they will not do something foolish, especially when it comes to children.

yes.... you are speaking to the mother of a child who drove a vehicle when she was 3.... through the garage. Being relatively new to parenthood - I did not think I had to tell her not to drive. I never made the mistake of not giving them a lot of information from that point on. They are adults now and occasionally look at me and remind me that they know everything now. My daughter did not tell my 2 1/2 yr. old grandbaby not to put 23 band-aids on the cat yesterday....

[Guest TheChief]

Under Federal law in the United States (one of over 22 THOUSAND on the books at the Federal, state, or local level), each firearm purchased is required to be provided with some form of "gun lock" or "gun safety device" (hmmmm, need to ask my salesman where they were for my last 2 purchases). Further, under the law, firearms are required to be secured from "enquiring minds" below the age of 18.

Now, I can understand the desire to protect our younger citizens from harm, but fail to see where it is the school's place to enforce (by proxy) Federal law. I agree with the first portion (pointing out gun safety in general terms to the child, what to do if a gun is seen in school, etc.) but pause at the idea that the school's supposed influence in a contentious debate extends beyond the playground into my home.

My children have grown up in a gun "culture," as it were. Daddy worked with firearms his entire military career, and the kids are VERY familiar with guns, gun safety, and the gun debate. They do not need a teacher or school pushing what can be seen as an agenda when their only contact with a firearm may have been at the county fair shooting .22's at a paper target to win a teddy bear or, worse, no contact at all, and a decided anti-gun political stance which they desire to pass along to our next generation of voters.

Axxman, I applaud your integrity and your stand.

[nebula]

My dad taught us gun safety, showed us how to shoot the gun, and held our hands as we fired the gun.

End of curiosity!

(It also gave us a feel for how powerful it was and how dangerous it could be.)

But he showed us where it was, made it clear that the safety had to be kept on at all times unless you intended to shoot . . . which we should never do unless there was someone dangerous in the house (the reason for the gun in the first place).

We never touched it, nor had a need to touch it, and if a friend stumbled upon it we'd make it clear that was a deep no-no.

No problems!

[Hunterpoet]

Prior to our last child's graduation we received several letters from the school which we refused to sign. Most were about food or work programs which required the parents to disclose yearly income. Never received anything like what you describe, but this is how I would have handle it and why.

You can think me a conspiracy nut if you like, but I see this as a round about way to identify who in the community has personal weapons.

I encountered something similar, believe it or not, recently at a doctors office where I went for follow up, the last question on the medical history form asked if there were any guns in the home. I left it blank and when the nurse asked me outright I told her " I decline comment "...had she pushed the issue I would have told her it was none of her business.

For the school letter I would have done the same...left it blank...if the school pushed the issue I would have informed them of my individual rights to privacy, and pretty much stated what you did, that the school has no right to interfere in the workings of my home. I would also tell them that the issue was already covered by state or local law and that I was a law abiding citizen. In no way shape or form would I let them know whether I did or did not have any weapons.

Because my decision would or could have an impact on my child, I would sit and thoroughly explain everything to them and to insist that they did not divulge any information, but that their answer to any further questioning at school be referred directly to me, ie, " you'll have to talk with my dad or mom about that".

[Massorite]

if you were to sign it , and you didnt have the locks , sounds like bigger trouble.

it would be better to teach the children gun safety and all about the guns than lock them up. when you need a gun you dont have time to be looking for keys.

Not only that but if you sign you are giving away your right to teach your children about guns and gun safty. One can't do that effectively unless they teach thier children how to shoot, put the safty on, load the gun carry the gun and so on.

[Believer1997]

if you were to sign it , and you didnt have the locks , sounds like bigger trouble.

it would be better to teach the children gun safety and all about the guns than lock them up. when you need a gun you dont have time to be looking for keys.

Not only that but if you sign you are giving away your right to teach your children about guns and gun safty. One can't do that effectively unless they teach thier children how to shoot, put the safty on, load the gun carry the gun and so on.

How is he giving away his right to teach his kids about guns, safety and how to shoot? The 'contract' didn't require he promise to do any of that. I think it just had some language about keeping it safely locked away... and what responsible gun owner doesn't take precautions already?

[Guest]

Usually Honest Contracts Are Two Way - One Gives And The Other Gives And Both Parties Sign And Retain Copies For Potential Future Litigation.

However This Sounds More Like A Prayer Request For God's Covering Over Your Home And Her School....

Praying!

[hillsong_girl]

I would not have signed it, period. Teach a child about gun dangers and gun safety? Sure. Promise to always keep my gun locked up or unloaded or whatever? Never.

[elkieDannsa' Air An Drochaid]

Good grief. I am sure that there are plenty of parents who do not practice adequate gun safety - but I don't think it is the role of her school to determine what you do in your own home. I KNOW they think they are going to supercharge parents into making their kids safer, but... this is out of the scope of the school system's responsibility. When I received a "contract" from the school about making sure my children didn't bring drugs to school, etc. I was stunned. Then I got a 'contract' from the youth group they attended at church about making sure we talked about 'abstinence', etc. I know that there are a lot of people who conceived and bore children and have NO clue how to raise them - the world is full of people who are clueless - but it is annoying on many levels, when one is a responsible and conscientious parent, to be told how to raise and instruct your children.

But you are not really being told how to raise and instruct your children, those sorts of things are for the parents that dont have a clue.

I always look at them like the directions on a shampoo bottle or the warning lable on a snowblower telling me not to use it on my roof.

Oh, I think they are telling us what to do.... we live in a culture where we are thought to be such idiots that we have to be told the most basic things. Now, you KNOW some twit has used the snowblower on the roof and fell off and sued the company blind. Just like those parents who leave guns loaded in drawers and never tell the kid anything about gun safety...

I got a new stove a while back. They delivered it and then I noticed these brackets that they were getting ready to drill into my new wood floors - when I questioned it... the guy said - I would have to sign a waiver stating I refused the 'stabilizing' brackets... Long story short... The brackets are to keep the stove from tipping over on you if you stand on the open oven door..... There were stickers on the door about this and a three page 'waiver' ... Now you know somebody did this... And there's some brainiac out there who used their toaster under water, too.

Hi believer,

Many years ago I heard about young children standing on ovens/stoves and it did tip over and killed a child and it can kill or injure them. It is not about an adult. It came from that happening anyway thought I'd mention it, as it was something I had heard about a longtime ago. That was when they started to fix them to the walls or floors etc...

But, yeah, about a lot of the other stuff we read does seem to get carried away and to those of us with common sense it seems insulting.

Blessings,

elkie

[paul1149]

Axxman, I think it would help to understand what they are trying to do with that clause. My opinion: I don't think they're trying to run your house. I do think they are trying to prevent your kids or their friends from getting to your guns and bringing them into school without your knowledge.

I hate to say it, but in our culture I think that's a pretty reasonable request. In our self-centered, relativistic culture, there's too much craziness out there. The moral framework is lacking, and parents don't have the control over their kids that they traditionally had. Schools can be incredibly intense emotional cauldrons for kids.

(This reminds me of a worse case of encroaching on the home - the law prohibiting kids drinking wine even if they're under their parents' supervision. I frankly think that goes way too far and that the government has zero business imposing itself to anywhere near that degree. Such asinine laws make outlaws out of us all.)

Even though I think this school regulation is reasonable, I do think there is an anti-gun culture out there that would love to use things like it to get at your guns. And I think a lot of congressmen would vote such a law if they thought they could get away with it, but they've learned that gun-control does not sell well outside of the big cities so they've dropped the issue for now. At the first opportunity, though, they'll shed their masks and go for the guns, and that's why regulations like this have to be examined carefully. They don't occur in a vacuum.

Basically, I would have signed it, but I think I would have given feedback about mentioning positive gun safety rather-than/as-well-as the negative dangers.

bb,

p.