Advice Columnist Tells Father to Evict Daughter from His House for Owning a Gun

[Elderberry]

NRA-ILA 6/14/2019

Amy Dickinson is an advice columnist who, according to the company that syndicates her work, “combines storytelling with advice that is rooted with honesty and trust.” “Ask Amy” appears in newspapers that include The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Lost Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. She is also billed as an “expert on relationships.”

Dickinson may be good at telling stories, but she is hardly honest, trustworthy, or expert in matters of firearms, which she nevertheless feels free to opine on, including in an article published this week that encourages an overwrought father to evict his adult daughter for owning a pistol.

A man identified only as “DUMBFOUNDED FATHER” (who we’ll refer to as “DUMB” for short) wrote Amy to breathlessly report:

This week I discovered that my intelligent, hard-working, responsible 24-year-old daughter (who lives with me) is a gun owner! And it’s not a normal gun either — it is a .40-caliber semi-automatic, and she has hollow point bullets to go with it.

DUMB believes the handgun to be “the kind of weapon a criminal would possess!” He dismisses his daughter’s choice to keep the gun “for emergencies,” arguing that there have been “only two” home invasions in their neighborhood during the last 11 years.

DUMB goes on to tell Amy that he has ordered his daughter to relinquish the gun or move out of his house in three weeks. He admits, “I love my daughter and would be so sad for her to move into a place that she would hardly be able to afford,” but insists, “I have to lock my bedroom door at night because I don’t know what she’s going to do.”

DUMB complains that his daughter now says he doesn’t trust her and will barely speak to him, “How,” he asks Amy, “can I convince her to stop endangering us?”

Needless to say, DUMB’s question embodies a number of false assumptions, as well as a remarkably condescending attitude toward women and firearms.

First, there is nothing “not … normal” about a .40 cal. semi-automatic handgun. Semi-automatic handguns are in fact the most popular category of firearm in America today.

The .40 caliber S&W cartridge, meanwhile, was developed specifically for law enforcement use, following the FBI’s determination in the mid-1980s to replace their standard-issue .38 special revolvers with semi-automatic pistols.

More: https://www.nraila.org/articles/20190614/advice-columnist-tells-father-to-evict-daughter-from-his-house-for-owning-a-gun

[Bill Cipher]

His house, his rules. 

[Elderberry]

And he probably gets tired of the whole house smelling of Hoppe's #9 after she cleans her pistol at the kitchen table after going to the range.

[Sanguine]

That was my thought too.   Regardless of how I or anyone else feels about guns, unless there is some really good reason why a 24-year old woman still lives with her father (e.g., he has health issues and she is taking care of him) --  the father would be right to make his daughter choose -- lose the firearm or move out. 

And I would not take advice from someone who lets his or her personal feelings and beliefs color their advice. The Second Amendment is not really the issue here.  The issue here is whether parents can set house rules for their offspring and I say they can.  If this advice columnist can't be objective, then she should find some other line of work.

But, it sounds like she did.  The father was hysterical over the adult daughter owning a gun and keeping it in his home.  Given those facts, objectively, one of two things need to happen - the daughter gets rid of the gun or moves out. 

[sneakypete]

DUMB goes on to tell Amy that he has ordered his daughter to relinquish the gun or move out of his house in three weeks. He admits, “I love my daughter and would be so sad for her to move into a place that she would hardly be able to afford,” but insists, “I have to lock my bedroom door at night because I don’t know what she’s going to do.”

While I agree with the "his house,his rules" people,I think he is doing her a favor by ordering her to move out. Her father would clearly rather see her raped and murdered than living and in possession of a firearm,so she needs to get away from that SOB ASAP.

[Bill Cipher]

While I agree with the "his house,his rules" people,I think he is doing her a favor by ordering her to move out. Her father would clearly rather see her raped and murdered than living and in possession of a firearm,so she needs to get away from that SOB ASAP.

Hardly

[sneakypete]

Hardly

@Bill Cipher

You have an odd way of spelling "completely".

[Bill Cipher]

@Bill Cipher

You have an odd way of spelling "completely".

Whatever

[Sanguine]

Whatever

So, why do you make comments if you can't defend or explain them?

[Bill Cipher]

So, why do you make comments if you can't defend or explain them?

I didn’t make a comment that i am not defending.  Why should I respond to snark with anything other than a dismissal.  Or do you also think that I misspelled a word?

Yeesh.  Get over yourself. 

[Sanguine]

I didn’t make a comment that i am not defending.  Why should I respond to snark with anything other than a dismissal.  Or do you also think that I misspelled a word?

Yeesh.  Get over yourself.

Sorry, Bill, it's not about me; it's about you.

[Bill Cipher]

Sorry, Bill, it's not about me; it's about you.

No, it’s about you and your failure to read the post to which I responded. 

Or perhaps you would have preferred it if i had linked to the OED to prove that, in point of fact, “hardly” is spelled h-a-r-d-l-y, and not c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y. 

Would that have sufficed?

[Sanguine]

No, it’s about you and your failure to read the post to which I responded. 

Or perhaps you would have preferred it if i had linked to the OED to prove that, in point of fact, “hardly” is spelled h-a-r-d-l-y, and not c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y. 

Would that have sufficed?

And, full sentences even!

[Bill Cipher]

And, full sentences even!

Whatever

[EdJames]

If you click the link and read the entire article, you get the point of it.

The irony here is that bad advice delivered by an incompetent researcher with no appreciation of her own ignorance or bias is the only real danger in this situation.

[txradioguy]

So, why do you make comments if you can't defend or explain them?

@Sanguine for one reason only:

[txradioguy]

Perhaps this issue with the dad could have been avoided if his daughter had simply sat down and discussed it with her parents before bringing the gun into their home.  Perhaps there is a perfectly legit reason for her to have a gun when she's away from the house that she needs to convey to them.

But besides the fact the "advice" columnist gave some really stupid advice...the dad's hand wringing uninformed response and over the top description of the gun in question is kinda disturbing...and shows how little most people know about guns these days.

[rustynail]

Time for Daughter to put Father in an 'assisted living' facility.

[Cyber Liberty]

But, it sounds like she did.  The father was hysterical over the adult daughter owning a gun and keeping it in his home.  Given those facts, objectively, one of two things need to happen - the daughter gets rid of the gun or moves out.

I think the daughter has more to fear from the hysterical Hoplophobe of a father she has than he does from her.  Move out for your own safety, girl.  He's not stable.  He'll steal that weapon to get a resolution to his "problem" and you will have to report the theft, along with any suspicions you may have about who did it.

[Sanguine]

I think the daughter has more to fear from the hysterical Hoplophobe of a father she has than he does from her.  Move out for your own safety, girl.  He's not stable.  He'll steal that weapon to get a resolution to his "problem" and you will have to report the theft, along with any suspicions you may have about who did it.

Totally agree.

[thackney]

DUMB complains that his daughter now says he doesn’t trust her and will barely speak to him, “How,” he asks Amy, “can I convince her to stop endangering protecting us?”

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

My idiot brother in law (a goober redneck that lives in a trailer) bought a gun into my in-laws house (who he was staying with at the time). Kept it loaded right above where his kids were staying. My father in law confiscated the weapon until he left.

[Cyber Liberty]

My idiot brother in law (a goober redneck that lives in a trailer) bought a gun into my in-laws house (who he was staying with at the time). Kept it loaded right above where his kids were staying. My father in law confiscated the weapon until he left.

That's understandable.  One does not need to be a Hoplophobe to want to confiscate in that case.  The Insurance implications are astounding, among other issues.

Hey, @Weird Tolkienish Figure!  Happy Father's Day!

[Cyber Liberty]

    DUMB complains that his daughter now says he doesn’t trust her and will barely speak to him, “How,” he asks Amy, “can I convince her to stop endangering protecting us?”

By DUMB's own admission, there were two home invasions in their neighborhood over the past 11 years.

[Free Vulcan]

Guns are the liberal version of reefer madness.

That said, at 24 y/o she needs to be out on her own.