carcajou

I would be far more worried about guns and anti-Pride bullying in Toronto than in Charlotte. Plenty of "open carry" in Toronto if you're in the wrong neighbourhood.

TexanScot

I agree with what everyone else has already said, but just to pick up on this specific point... gun cabinets aren't liquor cabinets - you can't just go and open them and help yourself to whatever you fancy.

Anyone who has sufficient interest in firearms that they have a gun safe/cabinet installed at home is almost certainly the type of responsible person who takes safety seriously, especially so if they have children at home. The cabinet will be kept locked unless the parent is physically in the room and putting something in/taking something out, and anyone who has both firearms and children at home will be teaching their children an age-appropriate level of gun safety.

Texas is known as a fairly trigger-happy state, and everyone I know who is into firearms is safe and responsible, and takes safety as seriously as you would hope they would. I can imagine that things might be a little bit more relaxed out in the more rural farming areas where firearms are literally an aspect of day to day life, but even out there children are taught not to mess round.

I'd be more worried about teenagers drink driving and having easy access to drugs than I would be about firearms, especially in a nice suburb in an urban area.

Pulaski

I wish that was true, but it is a fairly frequent media story that "little Jimmy found grandpa's handgun next to the bed", and shot his sister/ friend/ the dog, and I would consider that firearms in the homes of friends to be a greater reason for concern than guns at school.

And here's an annecdote, which suspect is far from unusual. Mrs P's uncle (who doesn't live in NC) is an avid hunter and has a number of shotguns and rifles - and I mean around 25-30, maybe more. Well his house ws broken into and his gun collection stolen because hs was using his gun safe as a gun cupboard - he simply hadn't bothered to lock the safe door! To your point, her uncle does live in a more rural area, but he is in no sense a farmer, and his back yard is smaller than ours.

Jerseygirl

every year my daughter’s NJ school sent a letter to parents, reminding them that if their children were visiting another household, they must ask if all guns are locked away.

TexanScot

[QUOTE=Pulaski;12850138]I wish that was true, but it is a fairly frequent media story that "little Jimmy found grandpa's handgun next to the bed", and shot his sister/ friend/ the dog[quote]

I appreciate that it does happen, but how often does it happen in practice compared to someone's fear - justified or not - that it might happen?

Perhaps your right, although it's worth distinguishing between "guns at school" in the sense that someone might bring one to class in their school bag vs an active shooter that enters a school with the intent to do harm.

None of the parents I know seem to express much worry about people bringing guns to class (I know this is something that does happen), whereas it's the risk of active shooters that they seem to genuinely worry about.

FWIW none of my friends have ever mentioned a concern that their kids might get access to a firearm at a friend's house, although I appreciate that the fear might well be there even if they haven't explicitly voiced it.



Heh, that I can believe.

One of my friends jokes that he'd be useless in a home invasion, since he locks his firearms up unloaded and secures the ammunition in another, locked location!

civilservant

Yes... quite.....

My shotgun is loaded, in the bedroom, and within 1.5 feet of my hands. It does however have the safety engaged.

I don't have any children though, it's just the wife, me, and a cat. If children do come to the house, I simply lock the bedroom door. Problem solved.

Rete

The same in our house if you just exchange shotgun for pistol. The gun safe is always locked and if we have guests, the cats and the gun are behind locked doors.

scrubbedexpat099

Makes you wonder what else they write home about.

Drugs?

Obesity?

HDWill

It's hard to predict what experiences a non-gender-conforming child could have in school. As noted above, the above average income areas of Charlotte have vast numbers of transplants from other parts of the US and the world, and ideas around that have progressed a lot in the last twenty years. However, it's possible that individual children, cliques, or teachers could make it hard for such a child.

Pulaski

But that could happen anywhere in the US, or around the world. While there may be a higher concentration of bigots in The South, I am fairly sure that there will be some intolerance no matter where you live, and that such people just hide their feelings when forced to do so. I present Yugoslavia as an example, where Tito's regime kept a lid on things until 1990, then chaos erupted and some segments of society upped and started lynching their neighbours, who they had lived alongside, apparently peacefully, for 40+ years.

ColaCats

Thank you all so much for the replies. I appreciate you taking the time. Someone sent me a PM but apparently I can't view those until I post more, so I'll try to carve out some time and do more posting!

And yes, I understand these issues can occur anywhere in the world; we happen to have found a super-accepting area / school but I know you don't get that throughout Toronto and beyond!

Hiro11

You'll be fine. Charlotte's really boring.

Pulaski

I am expecting things to pick up a bit in August of this year.

lj2

Just to add to the above - Lived and worked around Charlotte for 12 years, and neither of those things have been a concern in any of my / my 3 kids' lives.

I really wouldn't worry, at all.

capin

I live in the afore mentioned Denver, NC. I work in Maiden, shop in Mooresville and Huntersville and only verture down to Charlotte to go to the SuperG asian supermarket on indepence or the airport. I used to to go the Costco in Charlotte but since the one in Mooresville opened, I have had no need.

I love living in NC, I think people are reasonably open minded and I really like them. I am in a mixed race marriage and have never heard any comment about that and my wife has never endured any racial abuse here I've only seen open carry once at the Bojangles on 16 and 150.