Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Firearms Policy

[Diana Kardia (diana]

Mosaic's experience of people assuming no one in cohousing would want  
a gun is quite common - and makes for a great opportunity for  
community building.  The assumptions about what "real cohousers" are  
like easily become invisible, so it's useful to look for moments when  
they can get surfaced and cleared away in order to build a much more  
true form of community - one that actually recognizes the complicated  
real people that have decided to join together in this endeavor.

One way to handle the unnecessary forms of controversy that can come  
up here is to use an icebreaker that accomplishes one or more of the  
following:
- puts information in the room about the reality and variety of  
people's experience (e.g., how many people's parents or grandparents  
hunted? how many people have been hunting themselves?)
- provides factual information about gun safety (so that the  
conversation is not skewed only toward the things that happen when  
safety is not cared for)
- addresses the many reasons people do choose to have guns (so that  
the onus is not on any one individual to do all the educating)
Feel free to contact me if you want more specific ideas.

From there, the community is much more capable of making an informed  
and collaborative decision on this matter - and more quickly than if  
the whole conversation starts in drama.  But watch out - the firearms  
conversation might not be nearly so tricky as the one about whether  
it's allowable to field dress a deer in one's limited common element.

Diana

Diana Kardia
Sunward and Great Oak Cohousing Communities, Ann Arbor
diana [at] ragingmagmalife.com

On Jul 7, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Elizabeth Magill wrote:

It was QUITE controversial at the start, because many members has
just assumed we would not have guns, and it turned out that one of
our members already owned one or more handguns.
However, once the initial shock wore off, we had good discussion of
our fears and concerns and came reasonably quickly to consensus.

-Liz
(The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
PastorLiz [at] verizon.net
MOsaic Commons
Move in with us this fall! A few 2, 3, and 4BR homes are still
waiting for a neighbor!
www.mosaic-commons.org

On Jul 7, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Per Eisenman wrote:
> What have different communities done about  a firearms policy?  Can
> anyone offer any advice or examples.
> Thanks.
> -Per Eisenman
> Champlain Valley Cohousing