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Christina Rose wrote: ↑01 Mar 2018, 10:17 Stan Mason’s father was a resident at the Senior Citizen home, Green Valley. One day, Stan’s 89-year-old father started shooting other residents in the dining room until he was shot himself by the security guard. Before this, Green Valley had taken a field trip to a nearby gun show. Stan’s father purchased two guns with extended magazines. What are your thoughts on Green Valley making such a trip to the gun show? How do you feel about the residents having access to firearms at the home?

I thought this was an odd choice of activity for the home to make. That part of the story seemed weird to me. My grandma and great aunt live in a home like that and they do things like book club, mind puzzles, movie nights, water aerobics, and gardening. I know that different places can be different but what would be the need for a gun in a retirement home? Even with the self-defense angle, it should be a safe place to be! Then agian, so should schools....

britt13 wrote: ↑31 Mar 2018, 19:39

Christina Rose wrote: ↑01 Mar 2018, 10:17 Stan Mason’s father was a resident at the Senior Citizen home, Green Valley. One day, Stan’s 89-year-old father started shooting other residents in the dining room until he was shot himself by the security guard. Before this, Green Valley had taken a field trip to a nearby gun show. Stan’s father purchased two guns with extended magazines. What are your thoughts on Green Valley making such a trip to the gun show? How do you feel about the residents having access to firearms at the home?

I thought this was an odd choice of activity for the home to make. That part of the story seemed weird to me. My grandma and great aunt live in a home like that and they do things like book club, mind puzzles, movie nights, water aerobics, and gardening. I know that different places can be different but what would be the need for a gun in a retirement home? Even with the self-defense angle, it should be a safe place to be! Then agian, so should schools....

I thought it was odd, as well. I worked at a nursing home for years, and couldn't imagine this being an activity the facility actually sponsored. What residents do with family and friends outside of the facility is one thing, but for the home to provide transportation and everything to an event such as a gun show is irresponsible (and unlikely). I also don't see the need to be armed as a resident within a facility. There is more potential harm than good in that scenario.

I think the organized field trip to the gun show was a bad idea as a thing for the facility to do, but it was a good idea for the book. It got me thinking about what rights people do or do not give up in living in a setting like that and how difficult it would be to monitor who has guns and who doesn't depending on the type of facility.

Watching older members of my family deciding when to give up driving their cars and knowing when it is not safe anymore and reading this book is making me think about whether a similar set of conversations occurs with gun owners about when they are no longer able to safely and responsibly own a gun.

dtb wrote: ↑06 Apr 2018, 09:36 I think the organized field trip to the gun show was a bad idea as a thing for the facility to do, but it was a good idea for the book. It got me thinking about what rights people do or do not give up in living in a setting like that and how difficult it would be to monitor who has guns and who doesn't depending on the type of facility.

Watching older members of my family deciding when to give up driving their cars and knowing when it is not safe anymore and reading this book is making me think about whether a similar set of conversations occurs with gun owners about when they are no longer able to safely and responsibly own a gun.

Residents in facilities such as the one discussed in the book really do forfeit some of their independence when moving it. Even in the best of situations, this can't be helped. I agree that it would be difficult to monitor who has guns, even with the most observant of staff members. There typically are not metal-detectors, so a resident would have to be either obvious or careless for an employee to know about any guns.

I don't understand why the home authority thought that seniors might need guns to defend themselves, specially when they were being taken care of in the home itself. Couldn't an armed guard appointed by the authorities suffice? When the residents are senior and therefore are very likely to have physical issues such as decreased sight or hearing, not to mention mental and behavioural issues, why would one want to put such a dangerous thing like a gun in their hands? Doesn't it reflect negligence and thoughtlessness on the home authority's part?

There are so many questions that arise from that incident. The senior citizens home should have never taken the residents to the gun show. I'd think they would provide them with a calming experience like a trip to the fair. Their failure to keep track of what the senior citizens brought back with them, especially the guns, exposes a loophole that turned detrimental to the residents and the home.

Good question: and I'm still on the fence about this scenario. What more could anyone have expected when you take (unstable) senior citizens shopping for guns? At the same time, how were stable senior citizens able to protect themselves without being armed? It just seems like a no win situation.

I don't think we can group all senior citizens when making a decision on whether they should be allowed to own guns. On one hand, I know several senior citizens that still enjoy the sport of hunting. These seniors are active, healthy, and mentally fit. Those that have need for assisted living should be evaluated for their fitness and mental health. I believe that the assisted living facilities should be allowed to have a "no weapons" policy to protect their residents. My grandmother, for example, was on suicide watch in the nursing home. She was not allowed shoelaces, spoons, or even straws. If a resident in this facility would have had a weapon, this could have been a very dangerous situation. As for the choice of this fictional facility in the story, I do not believe this is a traditional field trip for these sorts of facilities. It would be more likely that a family member would choose to take a family member to one of these events. An event like this would be a huge liability concern because of the challenge of keeping track of the residents. Even if a family member would take a person to such an event, the facility would be able to determine whether to allow the firearm on the premises.

I think that it was very irresponsible for the home to take the patients to the gun show. Many people in retirement/nursing homes deal with confusion so why would you want to add a gun into the equation?

I don't understand why the home would take its residents on a trip there. Why in the world would they have a need for guns when they are under permanent care in a nursing facility?

I was thinking that it didn't make sense for a retirement home to allow such a field trip.

I think doing a field trip is one thing. Those in nursing homes get restless always being inside a home and may not even have the family to come and take them somewhere for the day. I don't think it was necessarily the best type of field trip, but it was something to get them out of the home. However, there is really no need for the residents of a home to carry a gun, to have a gun, or any weapons. I think back to my own family members who have been homes. There are a lot of people with dementia, people who become combative. It wouldn't be safe for someone to have a weapon in there.

I think taking the field trip was a rather odd thing to do with senior citizens. Doing an outdoor type show, a home and garden show, something like that I could see, but a gun show seems so random to take senior citizens to go and do. When I'm older, I'd rather go see the circus than go to a gun show. I am completely against elderly people having guns inside a nursing home. That wouldn't be safe on so many levels. There are going to be residents who are not with it, but could gain access to the gun and do a lot of harm. As health deteriorates, having a gun within reach is not good for anyone involved.

It seems like if they are living in an assisted living home then they can’t live independently on their own they shouldn’t have access to guns. certainly not a field trip to a gun show. It would seem like the. Ursing bome would have a policy against guns for residents

jessinikkip wrote: ↑01 Mar 2018, 18:16 With the fact that the book emphasizes that discount for all AARP members and the NRA is really pushing guns on seniors, it didn't surprise me like I'd expected it to. What did surprise me about it was that they were allowed to keep their guns and ammo with them and that no one recorded who bought something that day. I was surprised the center hadn't written down like "Okay, this person bought these two and this much ammo. This person bought this." Just so they'd have an idea who was armed...

While I agree with you wholeheartedly, recording this type of information would be in direct violation of gun ownership rights in most states.