Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: gun ownership/possession in co-housing

[Patricia Lautner (lautnerp]

About 18 years ago we had a retreat and discussed this for many hours.  We
came up with the same issues that Sharon mentioned: that we weren't willing
to discriminate against people who need guns for their profession, and it's
basically unenforceable.

In the end we decided that we would have a full disclosure policy.  We will
make sure our neighbors (the adults) know that there's a gun in the home
and be open and willing to show neighbors where and how it's kept safe.
This is important because parents need to know which home has a gun in case
they want to prevent their kids from visiting unsupervised.

Patti
Jamaica Plain Cohousing, Boston MA

On Tue, Sep 20, 2022 at 1:14 PM Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> > On Sep 20, 2022, at 12:48 PM, Fern Selzer/US/CA/95003/NBC via
> Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,Some members in our community are requesting a policy banning
> guns on our Cohousing community.
>
> This has not come up before the whole community. It was raised with the
> group revising the bylaws. It was not accepted because:
>
> 1. An outright ban discriminates against people who are required to
> wear/have a gun for professional reasons — police officers, undercover
> investigators, etc. They would be automatically excluded.
>
> 2. Units are private. Unless something is a clear danger to other units,
> what people do/have in their unit is the unit owner’s freedom and
> responsibility.
>
> 3. It is dangerous. People in certain jobs receive death threats — judges
> trying criminal cases, media stars, government officials. Even though this
> are temporary on and off threats, these people cannot wave flags that say
> I’m unprotected. They might also require bodyguards during these periods
> who would be armed.
>
> 4. It is unenforceable. It puts everyone in the position of enforcing
> something that can’t be enforced without regular search and seizure raids.
> Because it is unenforceable but proclaimed to be a value, it is a set up
> for rumors and suspicions.
>
> Depending on the state you live in, you may be able to ban visible gun
> carrying, but it would probably be much better to have a statement of
> values that says something like:
>
> — Many of our members find the presence of guns to be an alarming reminder
> of murders, etc. and prefer not to be subjected to seeing guns or being
> made aware of their presence in the community.
>
> We had to have a similar statement in relation to dogs. No matter how
> sweet your dog is or how much you love them _____ saw her brothers ___ be
> torn off by one and does not feel comfortable in the presence of an
> unleashed dogs. Dogs must be on leashes in public areas.
>
> — In states where gun use is common for hunting, you might have a
> statement on the secure storage of guns and even gun training for residents
> once a year or so. Respectful possession and education in areas where guns
> are common is wiser than pretending they don’t exist.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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