A Washington Post article popped onto my radar this week. In the article, the author expounds on her opinion of concealed carry guns in her home. Her biggest hang-up is that she has to ask each person visiting her home if they conceal carry a firearm. She is adamant that guns are a risk to her children and therefore she cannot have them in her home.
While I absolutely respect the author’s right to make her own decisions regarding who and what she allows within her house walls; I find her thinking to largely be driven by fear and misunderstanding.
The author states that, “As of a report from July 2014, the number of Americans with a permit to carry a concealed weapon was a staggering 11.1 million. What are the odds that one day a new friend of ours is going to come for a playdate with a gun (legally) hidden in their diaper bag? With numbers like that, the odds are not in our favor.”
While 11.1 million seems like a lofty number, she fails to acknowledge that there are over 330 million people in the United States. Percentage wise, that’s roughly 3 percent of the population that carries a concealed firearm. I checked the 2015 version of the study she cites. It calculates the percentage of concealed carry a little higher at 5.2 percent. Either way, that’s a small fraction. The actual odds of her inviting someone over with a concealed carry firearm are relatively low.
The actual numbers don’t seem to stop her from concocting a scary scenario in which a child stumbles upon a loaded gun in a bag. While, yes, bag carry is not the preferred means of carry (and one I strongly advocate against) that doesn’t describe all of us who do conceal. My Springfield Mod.2 and my Ruger LC9 are tucked away in IWB holsters that retain the guns, cover the triggers and cannot be accessed by unauthorized persons. Lumping me in with bag carry enthusiasts is an unfair assumption.
Instead of assuming that concealed carriers are nefariously hiding their guns, why not invite them to explain why they conceal and how they do so safely. By all means, if they are just throwing their Glock in their diaper bag encourage them to choose a safer means of carry and ask them to leave their firearm at home until they do. I would certainly do the same if a mommy friend carried in an unsafe manner; however generically labeling guns dangerous and all that carry them risky only serves to alienate potential playmates.
While I wholeheartedly disagree with her stance, it is the author’s home so it is well within her right to interrogate her guests and allow admittance to the ones she deems worthy. While I doubt my children and I will be receiving an invitation to play, I would certainly respect her home rules. You won’t find me carting cupcakes or cookies to a gluten-free home and in that same vein I would respectfully leave my personal firearm in a locked container in my car.
On that same note, any anti-gun friends would have to accept that in a public place, where I can legally carry, and in my own home I will be armed. Friendships, like all relationships, require compromises for harmony’s sake.
I highly encourage the author to educate herself on the people behind the guns she so avidly opposes. Take a look at the way we moms and dads who conceal live and the way we carry before making misinformed judgments on who we are. She might find herself surprised to find that we’re good people doing the same thing she thinks she’s doing- protecting our families.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of Guns.com.
Safety warning: Jacki Billings is an NRA certified concealed carry instructor. Any methods or information described in this article is intended to be put into practice only by those serious about self defense with proper training.
The post Concealed carry and the gun-free home appeared first on Guns.com.