Gun control

Donata12
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

Gun control

I have recently come across a host in the US that said she had unruly guests and she went in to solve the issue with a gun, luckily ended up calling the police instead. I wonder how Airbnb effectively controls the no gun rule in a country where most citizens feel entitled to carry one. I wouldn’t want to be a guest of these kind of hosts becasie at the end of the day it is all about perception. 

13 Replies 13
Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@Donata12 

To be safe from gun rights and any stress you may experience,  it is best not to travel in the United States. 

As an American citizen, I am entitled to own and legally use a gun.

Airbnb may have a no gun policy (news to me actually) but they have this policy just to be superior and cover their ass in case there is gun violence at an Airbnb. However, Airbnb does not care and does not enforce this policy.

As a prospective guest, you can ask if host has a gun in the house. Most gun carriers are not ashamed of possesing guns. 

 

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Donata12, it's frightening indeed. I am very reluctant to travel to the US until the gun laws have been tightened up along the lines of Australia and Canada. Far too many loose cannons out there these days!

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

Right there with you @Kath9 ... which is a shame because the US is utterly amazing and I’d love to feel confident enough to travel and see some of the amazing sights there... but I have enough anxiety about violence as it is 😞 ... it’s kinda why I fled to NZ lol

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

 
Airbnb does have a gun/weapons policy. 
Screenshot_20190313-072141.png

 

 

What are Airbnb’s rules about weapons in a listing?

Our Standards & Expectations require that all weapons that are present at a listing must be properly stored and secured. If a weapon is in plain sight or discoverable by guests, hosts are required to indicate its presence in their House Rules. Guests are also required to provide notice of and obtain consent for any secured weapons prior to booking, and should use the messaging feature to do so.

If prior notice of a secured weapon is not provided and the host or guest prefers to cancel the reservation, Airbnb will allow cancellation without penalty.

Note: All weapons present in a listing must be secured regardless of whether they’ve been disclosed. People who violate this expectation may be suspended or removed from the site.

 

What's considered a weapon?

Any mechanism that can be used to fire a projectile is considered a weapon. This includes, but is not limited to: Standard firearms, air guns, self-defense or deterrent devices such as tasers or pepper spray, ammunition of any kind, and imitation firearms.

 

Accepted types of secure storage.

Locked cases or cabinets and visible locking devices are acceptable storage options. Secured storage must guarantee that only authorised users have access.

 

@Susan17 Thanks. I am aware of the gun control and disclosure feature on the site. However, as per @Paul ‘s comment here, not necessarily hosts know or comply with this requirement. 

 Hosts may have any weapons anywhere else and in this particular case the host carried it to the house where her guests were to scare them away because they badly broke the rules. It s the self policing and far western attitude that scares me. 

 

I guess I am safe because at meat I am aware, but a lot of tourists are not. And a lot of unruly guests are maybe not considering that a host with a gun and a bad unruly parting guest with maybe a gun too are a bad match.

@Donata12 

I understand your concerns, but the likelihood of a guest being shot by a host is probably on a par with the likelihood of them being run over by a bus. In other words, it could conceivably happen, but equally, so could a million and one other terrible things. If we lived our lives in fear of every possible tragedy that could potentially befall us, we'd never step foot outside our front doors. 

@Susan17 thanks I hear you. I still do not think right that unruly guests can be approached by the host with a gun. 

Just to be clear and stop misinformation:

Airbnb does NOT have a "No guns" policy.

They ask for disclosure upon the guest and no display upon the host.

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

Just last week, a long-term Airbnb superhost Jeanette, who was very active on the old Airbnb groups, took court action - and won - after she was wrongly accused by a guest of having a gun in her home, defamed in the review that sank her bookings, and subsequently delisted by Airbnb when she tried to fight her corner. 

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WgGngGlCBnw

@Susan17 

 

Have they reinstated her account or does she not want to be reinstated?  Great Judge!  Lisa

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Susan17 What a fantastic outcome from the courts!

@Jayesh0 @Ben551 

 

Hi Lisa! I just mentioned you in Ben's thread about the "Teams" update, and I was about to go looking for something you posted to tag you into that convo, and noticed that you'd tagged me in this 🙂

 

To answer your question - yes, it appears that Jeannette's account has indeed been reinstated, and her listings are live, and bookable. Just goes to show, we don't  have to just roll over and take whatever sh*t Airbnb decides to throw at us. We do have rights - we just need to have the balls to stand up for them 🙂 

 

Hello, I am also worried about the gun rule in our country.  It makes me so sad when I heard the news about firing in colleges especially in schools. Most of the students use their parent's weapons. I don't know when their will be a law on gun control in our country. I have also read an article on gun control safety on https://theavtimes.com/2020/12/21/gun-control-safety-in-public-schools/ site. I have seen many protest about the gun rule but I don't know why US administration isn't doing anything about it.