Trying to swell our ranks, a little at a time

[JAB]

My HCP came to me in the mail back at the end of August '08 (or maybe first of September - can't recall for sure.) Since then, I have been trying to get my mom and wife to get theirs. Finally got mom to take the plunge and hers arrived Saturday before last. I was off from work last Friday and took mom for her official Wally walk. She was carrying in a leather IWB holster that I made for her.

My wife can't reliably operate the slide on a semiauto so I have been trying to convince her that a revolver is probably her best option. Problem is, she has had trouble operating the trigger on most revolvers in DA mode and they often hurt her hand after just a few shots. Last Saturday, she wanted to go to the range at Farnsworth's to try shooting the Rossi .357 snub that belonged to her dad, again. I had her fire it with .38 Special ammo (WWB FMJ, to be precise.) In the course of me refreshing her memory on how to properly hold a revolver, she realized that she had missed one point, before, and I hadn't noticed. She had been trying to pull the trigger on revolvers with the second joint of her trigger finger instead of the pad of the first joint. Adjusting so that she was using the pad of her finger, she can pull the trigger with no problem and the revolver no longer hurt her hand. She discovered that she could actually handle firing it one handed - and doing so, with a pretty rapid rate of fire, was getting hits on the silhouette target at ~7 yards. With a two-handed grip, she was consistently getting hits 'in the black' even at distances out to ~20 yards, again, with a snubnose revolver! She then promptly went back into the store part of Farnsworth's and signed up for a May 15 carry class.

I'm very proud of her. Her late (and good riddance) abusive jerk of a father was a real a-hole and his habits with firearms were bad to say the least. He used to get drunk and wave a handgun around, threatening to shoot himself (or, sometimes, others.) He once pulled a gun on his own brother over a very minor disagreement. These instances formed the basis of the majority of her earlier exposure to firearms. She was never really 'opposed' to guns but was understandably a bit wary - even afraid - of them. I have tried to show her a different example of gun ownership, answer questions she has and explain to her how a responsible person with a firearm is a positive force, not a negative one. I've also tried to help take the mystery out of firearms by helping her learn how to operate them, getting her to target shoot with me, etc. I know she has tried to keep an open mind but was never sure she'd get quite this far.

Edited May 3, 2010 by JAB

[Guest BEARMAN]

Keep working with them, JAB...you're doing them a great service, in doing so....they just may not realize it yet, Bro.

[JAB]

Keep working with them, JAB...you're doing them a great service, in doing so....they just may not realize it yet, Bro.

Thanks. My mom actually has lifelong experience with firearms. In fact, she had just about as much to do with teaching me to shoot back when I was a kid as my dad did. She just never had carried, before.

As for my wife, I recently explained to her that I didn't want to push too hard but that the reason I want her to learn is that I care so much and want her to be able to protect herself.