Guns in an AirBnB… Give me some advice

SV reX said:

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

This is not my area of expertise, but as I understand it a temporary residence (like a hotel room) has the legal status of one's home.  The right to bear arms extends to one's residence (a gun in your home is considered in your possession), and this extends to a temporary residence (as long as the weapon is handled and stored legally).

The challenge in this situation is that the rented space is someone else's home, and they also have the right to establish rules about weapons in their property.  I don't know the legal nuances.

He had the right to carry, and he had the right to bring it to a rented property with the owner's permission (which he didn't have).

When he left the rented space, he forgot his weapon. He didn't chuck it or discard it.  
 

But we all agree he was grossly negligent in how he mishandled his responsibility. 

I understand and agree with most of what you said.

But I never said he chucked it or discarded it.


My point is he didn't take the responsibility of loaded weapon seriously.   At all.

Steve_Jones said:  ...it's her problem if she doesn't want to do the right thing. 

Steve, you sure you want to stand on that?

The only thing she hasn't done is that she chose not to report it to AirBnB, or to call the Sheriff.

Neither of those things are actually required (but most of us think they are good ideas).

You've been pretty clear in this thread that you don't think she is doing the "right" thing.

  That's your opinion. I don't see it.
 

But I am definitely open to learning if she has crossed any legal line or broken any rule.

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

You are absolutely right.

P3PPY said:

Out of curiosity, why is your fiancé reluctant to hand it over to the law or report to ABnB? Good on you for dissuading shipping, by the way. 

I wish I knew. I really don't understand it (and she has not given me more info).  That's why I came here.  Thought maybe someone had some insight! Lol!

I think it's just that she doesn't want to make waves. But she was a military spouse for 20 years- I don't necessarily always know why she has strong positions on things at times. 
 

She also has a much deeper understanding of cultural nuances in the rural South than I do.

In reply to SV reX :

I think I may see where the difference in what I am trying to say is coming across as something else.
My point is that if he didn't leave the gun, loaded in the nightstand (when even bringing it in without permission is against the rules of the place he was staying at) he would be carrying on the way home.  And he would have a chance to try to protect himself if the need arose.    Which is the whole point of carrying.   He doesn't take that seriously enough.  As evidenced by, well everything he did in this situation.  I hate to bring Spider-man into this, but Uncle Ben had a point...

In reply to SV reX :

Oops.  You replied before I could type all that out.

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Some people feel it's possible an intruder could come in while they sleep and cause them harm. That's why they consider keeping the weapon close as "self defense".

John Welsh said:

What I've learned from this scenario is there are more than one path of "logic".  And, that's not a specific judgement call on any path 

Yes.

This is why I'm a Pluralist. When evaluating dilemmas, the more logical/moral/ethical/philosophical frameworks you can apply that lead you to the same conclusion or course of action, the more likely that is to be a good idea.

As opposed to trying to pick the "correct" philosophy to ascribe to.

In reply to SV reX :

I understand that, as well.   If he had legal permission to do so, I would have no qualms about that part.
But he didn't.  

I guess it could be his special "sleeping gun"...

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Oh, and he didn't break the rules of the place he was staying at.

AirBnB has some very simple generic rules which he broke.  They leave it up to their hosts to establish more specific rules if they choose to.

This property owner did not have a more detailed policy on weapons.  Neither did the manager (my partner).

So, he broke the generic AirBnB rules, but did not violate the rules of the place he was stating at.

This was the first time we'd seen this (after hundreds of rentals).  It was never in our minds to consider a gun policy.

My daughter runs a large management company that handles over 100 properties for short term rentals. She never saw it either (and doesn't have a detailed policy either).

I'd turn it in to authorities. That way there is a paper trail of custody of the firearm. 

As for shipping, I wouldn't do it. The closest might be to have the owner of the firearm coordinate with a local firearms dealer to ship it in compliance with all regulations. In this case a receipt for handing it over to the dealer for shipping would be requested to show possession of the firearm and traceability for all that handled it. 

As for the legal aspects, leaving an unsecured and loaded weapon unattended and outside of your control is probably a violation of some regulations (even if a mistake). Or course that would depend on the state, but in Mass it would definitely be on the wrong side of some regulations. 

In reply to SV reX :

The place he was staying at is still governed by the ABnB rules.  Generic or not.  He didn't get permission from the host.

In reply to No Time :

Previously mentioned...

In AL it is illegal to leave a gun unsecured in a manner in which a child could access it.

I'd say this counts. 

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

He definitely broke rules. And laws.
 

The question now is how the host needs to handle it.  There is no rule that requires the host to report the incident.

Man, the mental gymnastics of this hypocrisy, whatever social norms of protecting "rural South military affiliated past" is why nearly every part of this thread is in disagreement with what is said to be occurring here. It's not cultural, its just wrong.

SV reX said:

Steve_Jones said:  ...it's her problem if she doesn't want to do the right thing. 

Steve, you sure you want to stand on that?

The only thing she hasn't done is that she chose not to report it to AirBnB, or to call the Sheriff.

Neither of those things are actually required (but most of us think they are good ideas).

You've been pretty clear in this thread that you don't think she is doing the "right" thing.

  That's your opinion. I don't see it.
 

But I am definitely open to learning if she has crossed any legal line or broken any rule.

Yes I'll stand on that because I have no idea what she did or did not do. Notice my quote actually was "what I mean is it's now not a "we" problem, it's her problem if she doesn't want to do the right thing" meaning you gave her your opinion, she disagreed, and so now it's her decision, not a "we" decision no matter what the decision is. Why did you leave that part out? You asked for advice on what we would do, people here answered that question. No one said what she was doing was wrong, because until a few posts ago, no one here knew what she did, except you. 
 

Do you just want us to tell you you're right and she's wrong? Will that make it better?
 

In reply to johndej :

I didn't mean to imply I'm trying to "protect  rural South military affiliated past".

I shared that to show that she has strong opinions based on her life experiences which I may not understand.
 

I couldn't care less about protecting some  weird rural South military past.  That's not OK. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

You have a weird way of arguing with someone who agrees with you. 

SV reX said:

In reply to Steve_Jones :

You have a weird way of arguing with someone who agrees with you. 

I figured you agreed with most (if not all) of the replies here, but as I said, your posts from the start are coming off like you want to argue with everyone here for some reason, I just wasn't sure why. I assume it's just frustration with the situation, and wanting to tell the guy he's an ass, but not being able to. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I don't think my question was very difficult. How would you handle it if you found a loaded weapon in your house?

Some responses came very far out of left field, and seemed like they were accusing wrongdoing.  I've been doing my best to try and remain neutral and try to respond in balanced ways.

No one has shown any law or rule that has been broken, so I am not convinced there is only 1 "proper" response.

I have my opinion. So does everyone else.  Doesn't mean she is handling it incorrectly or poorly.

I didn't have "Gun thread gets locked for completely non-gun non-political reason" on my 2024 bingo card, but it just might happen.

In reply to TravisTheHuman :

Haha!

The answer is "42".

SV reX said:

P3PPY said:

Out of curiosity, why is your fiancé reluctant to hand it over to the law or report to ABnB? Good on you for dissuading shipping, by the way. 

I wish I knew. I really don't understand it (and she has not given me more info).  That's why I came here.  Thought maybe someone had some insight! Lol!

I think it's just that she doesn't want to make waves. But she was a military spouse for 20 years- I don't necessarily always know why she has strong positions on things at times. 
 

She also has a much deeper understanding of cultural nuances in the rural South than I do.

If we're just spitballing here, looking for reasons she might have made that decision, I could scrape up a few guesses, but I think most of us must have missed that that was your purpose in posting. 
 

So if I were to speculate, I could imagine that she doesn't want to impinge on anyone's gun ownership, which having a gun-related police interaction might do. Given the level of his irresponsibility as described, I can't say I'm much partial to this rationale, myself.

But then again, her lack of knowledge of how to handle interstate firearms transfers implies a total lack of familiarity or concern about guns and gun rights. So I'm lost. 
 

Is there a reason you're not asking her?

In reply to P3PPY :

I've asked. She doesn't have much more to say. 
 

And I don't intend to annoy her more about it.