Family values means asking prospective adoptive parents about guns

Say a couple wants to adopt. The officials in charge of such things will have questions, lots of questions.

They will check out the potential parents, the house, the siblings. They will look at the medicine cabinet, the fire alarm, the temperature of the fridge. They can even consider the family dog. After all, we're talking the health, safety and future of a child here, right?

But under a pending piece of legislation, adoption agencies would be forbidden from asking those prospective parents if they have guns in the house.

That's right: Sparky the beagle and his potential to nip: fair game. The presence of deadly weapons and whether they are safely and legally stored: off limits, even with a child at stake.

The National Rifle Association (surprise!) is pushing the bill, sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne. Don't let anyone tell you that this is about poking into the privacy of responsible gun owners or weakening the Second Amendment. It's a short-sighted, even selfish law that could circumvent a logical step aimed at protecting children.

Because even with all the responsible gun owners out there, how many times have we read the story of a kid who finds a weapon where it wasn't supposed to be and the tragedy that follows?

In 2006, 3,184 children and teenagers died from gunfire in this country, 196 in accidental or "undetermined" circumstances. According to the Children's Defense Fund, more preschoolers were killed by guns than were police officers in the line of duty.

The bill came about after a Brevard County couple hoping to adopt objected to being asked about guns. Turns out the agency was using a form that would list the guns in a home.

Here in Florida, we have a law to protect gun owners that forbids a government agency from keeping a "list, record or registry" of privately owned guns or owners. So the Department of Children and Families, which licenses adoption agencies, is indeed not allowed to keep a list of guns in a household.

But the DCF and related agencies do ask if there are guns there and make sure guns are stored according to the law — for painfully obvious reasons. What's more, no one can be barred from adopting just for having guns, as long as they're legal.

But pending Senate Bill 530 would forbid "an adoption agency or entity, whether public or private" from requiring prospective parents to say whether they have guns.

But if you don't know guns are there, how do you know they're safe and legal? What happens when something goes horribly wrong, and we want answers, and officials say they didn't even know a gun was in the house because they weren't allowed to ask?

Adoption isn't a right, by the way. It starts as an application process, one that requires you to give up information you otherwise wouldn't have to in the best interest of a child.

The DCF is analyzing the bill, but others already know what they think: "I was like: 'Are you kidding me?' " says Tampa adoption lawyer Jeanne Tate. "For goodness sake, we ask them if they have a pool and what they do to protect children from drowning. … Do you have car seats? Do you have seat belts? The list is endless on what we do to protect children."

As it should be. Do you have a gun, and is it safe? I'd call that a question of family values.