Guns! Would you allow guests to bring firearms?

Hi Catchafire, interesting you should bring up this topic!! Another host brought up this exact topic not long ago, and I posted a response to it, and put that conversation here:

globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/680/rules-firearms

(By the way, what I say below is just the kind of material that I would NOT want to put on the new Airbnb forums, and have permanently linked to my profile and my Airbnb listings!!!)

Here's what was said on that thread:

Deborah: (High Priestess)
I don't have a firearms policy and I have never seen this issue come up before, though I have seen at least one or two hosts who have stated in their house rules that firearms aren't permitted in their homes.

I would guess that this would be one of those things each host should decide for themselves. My own approach would be to first broadly assess who is this guest and why do they have a firearm with them (firearms aren't permitted on planes, so it would be someone either local or driving in ). If they are going on a hunting trip I would be more inclined to allow them to have the firearm, as that seems a legitimate reason, and there really isn't anyplace one can store a firearm while traveling other than in one's vehicle or one's room. And in many urban areas such as mine, it is not safe to leave valuables in vehicles overnight.

If I were a host where the guest's room did not have a lock on it, I would be more reluctant to allow them to have firearms in my house, out of fear of what might happen and any liability that could ensue if a firearm might be left out unlocked and potentially loaded, in a place accessible to others. IF there were a safe in the guest room and the firearm could fit in it, that would be more acceptable.

Just some thoughts.

Jeff:
This issue had not even occurred to me but given the recent events in the news I can see why you are! I shudder to think of any firearms in our home...I guess we should add that to our "house rules" section! Please feel free to share any other info you learn.

Deborah (High Priestess)
I dont' think we should leap from the situation of a guest asking to bring a firearm, to thinking of the incidents we read in the news of mass murder by disturbed individuals . IMHO it is unlikely that a person intending to commit mass murder, or an act of terrorism for that matter, is going to politely ask you if they can bring a gun or guns, bombs or a large stock of ammo into your listing!

Many reasonable people, including myself, may carry a firearm while traveling. Someone I knew personally and knew well, was murdered while traveling ---- perhaps a measure of effective self-defense would have prevented their death, perhaps not. In any case, as a woman alone on a road trip, it helps me feel secure to have a firearm in my possession as I travel. I generally travel this way on road trips. (Obviously I could not do so by plane -- but I very rarely travel by plane).

That said, this doesn't mean a host has to allow firearms in their home if they are uncomfortable with it or fear the liability issues, or for any other reason, single woman or no.

I would add though that even if a host has a rule prohibiting firearms on their property, it is not something that one can really check up on with every guest. After all our guests don't come through metal detectors when they enter our homes, and we aren't going to search their luggage. A guest who travels with a firearm may not think to mention it to the host, and so for the most part the host would be none the wiser what is or was in the guest's luggage, either during their stay, or afterward.



Additional things to mention:
I'm surprised to hear that in New Zealand gun ownership is privilege easily taken away and not a right. I guess I thought New Zealand, being a land with wide open spaces, would resemble the USA and perhaps Australia (though I don't know anything about gun laws in Australia!) in having permissive gun laws.
Actually, there are many thousands of "gun laws" in the USA, many restrictions, but apart from those, owning a gun is generally a right, unless one has felony convictions, or grave mental illness which is documented, in which case one loses such rights.

I tend to be quite libertarian on my views about gun rights and gun ownership, but I also am quite libertarian about property rights, and thus, the rules property owners can make for what they do and don't allow to take place on or be brought onto their property. So I fully support hosts who would not want firearms on their property. I also think that if one has more than one guest at a time, one has to be careful of permitting a guest with a firearm, who might mention something about having a firearm, which could then lead the other guest to "freak out", even to the point of wanting to cancel, out of fear of being housed with a "nut job" or "gun nut" as some anti-gun people call those with guns in the USA.

Ok here is a quick run down about Australian gun ownership. In 1996 a crazy guy killed 36 people in Tasmania. He had semi automatic weapons. He hunted people down including women and children. It was awful. Our government acted quickly. Both sides of parliament and the population agreed. They introduced an additional tax that year that we all paid. They bought back all the semi automatic guns and crushed them. I think I paid probably $250 extra tax. We have never had a mass murder since. I don't live in fear of my children being killed at school. We have had shootings since but it's never more than one or two people. We don't see it as our rights being taken away. We see it as our rights to not get killed. Hunting is still popular here, our whole kangaroo meat industry is based on shooting. But there is huge restrictions on who can own them and lots of weapons are banned and cannot be imported. We never want to see that awful day repeated again. I don't feel that having a gun would make me feel safer.

I don't think there will ever be gun reform in the US. The gun lobby is too strong. Just watching the news today there was a big punch up at a high school by a ex student. A couple of people got black eyes etc. if it had of been the US there would be bodies. That's the sad reality.

I like this part suggested in the article: Let’s also banish the term “gun control”: the better expression is “gun safety.”

Yes, I'm with you there, Lambada. THis comment from that NYT article is important evidence:





It is reasonable to think that an armed invididual could stop a crime: that is, after all, why we arm police officers -- so they can be effective in stopping crime. Those who call for a ban on all guns, or all handguns, unwittingly cause a defensive reaction on the right as many then rightly fear there is a move abroad to confiscate guns. Mexico is a good example of a nation where we can see that a prohibition on citizens owning guns doesn't do a heck of a lot to stop crime -- Mexico is nearly being completely run by drug cartels, and their violence.

It's a complicated issue, but I think while we examine expanding background checks for firearm purchases, it's actually more important to look at why so many young men are alienated and angry, and also why we can't do more to help the mentally ill in our nation.

Thanks Regi for bringing us back to the question! I was yakking off track there....

I think actually even for those of us who are comfortable with firearms, we may not want guests bringing them into our home! I am fine with myself having a gun in my own home, (locked up, BTW) but I would not want a guest bringing a firearm in. That said, it's possible that a guest might bring a firearm into a hosts' home without asking first about that -- to me this is more understandable and acceptable if they are renting an entire house or entire apartment. When you are just renting a room in the host's home, I think guests cannot assume they have a right to bring in a firearm. Yet asking permission to do that is awkward too....dont' you think?