\nIt was the most awkward and divisive of questions that I would ask of other parents, usually new acquaintances, but also of old friends. We\u2019d be on the phone, discussing our young children, laughing, and the subject of play dates would come up. The other mom might say, \u201cCan Chloe come over here tomorrow to play with Maddie?\u201d I would ask, \u201cDo you keep guns in your house?\u201d<\/p>\n
Always it would lead to the most illuminating of answers, whether yes or no. If the response was negative, the parent would answer immediately, following up with something like, \u201cNo, never. We don\u2019t believe in having firearms.\u201d In the other cases, there would always be a pause preceded a simple, \u201c\u201dYes.\u201d I would follow up, \u201cDo you have a gun safe?\u201d Usually, then came the \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dede Donahue: It was the most awkward and divisive of questions that I would ask of other parents, usually new acquaintances, but also of old friends. We\u2019d be on the phone, discussing our young children, laughing, and the subject of play dates would come up. The other mom might say, \u201cCan Chloe come over here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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