ZeSpectre
Member
I was getting ready to go to the range and practice and my wife says to me "wait up, I'll go with you". Talk about a shock to the system. My wife is stolidly gun-neutral. She really just doesn't care, at least not usually.
So I switch what I'm going to take a little with a bias towards the lighter stuff and off we go. Since it's her first time at the NRA-HQ range she has to take the educational quiz which she flies right through. Then it's into the range area where she nervously and slowly but very methodically proceeds to use a few magazines to rip one big jagged hole in the 8 ring with the .22lr pistol at about 10 feet. Now I'm impressed.
She looks at me absolutely stone faced and says "I want to shoot that one" (pointing at my P-3AT). Oh boy, so I let her know that "tiny" doesn't always mean less bang but she decides to try it anyway. First bang, edge of target. She looks at me in shock. Second bang, complete flier. Third bang in the 5 ring. She puts it down and says "that's NASTY".
Still no hint of a smile or excitement, no hint of upset, total stoneface.
So then she says "how about the one you carry all the time" (Taurus Millennium Pro PT-140). I explain that it's a pretty powerful gun 'cause I don't want her surprised. She frowns and says she'll shoot it anyway. First shot she scares herself half to death with it but she is very self controlled when she puts it carefully down on the table and then backs away. I'm thinking "oh crap, so much for that".
So I look at her and say "surprised you a little didn't it". I get this half smile and she says "yup". I say "it's like a horse, you gotta get right back on, will you shoot it two more times?" She frowns but says okay. BANG, flier on the edge of the target. I show her how to adjust her grip and stance a little... BANG, right in the 9 ring but pulled to the left. She looks at me and says "okay, I'm not afraid of it now but I'm done for tonight".
We pack it up and head home. She's really quiet for the car ride home but that's usual when she has a lot she's thinking over. Nevertheless I'm thinking to myself "well, she really didn't enjoy that so she probably won't go again".
So we get home and I'm cleaning things up and locking them away and she comes into the room.
"You didn't really have any fun did you?" I ask.
"Well," she says "it wasn't really about fun tonight".
Okay now I'm really wondering what's going on so I ask her to explain.
As it turns out she's been thinking a lot about guns and the surrounding issues and decided, as she put it, that it was "a lot like knowing how to change a tire or the oil in the car." To wit, she doesn't actually enjoy the task and she doesn't think she'll ever enjoy it, but has decided that to stay ignorant about it would be extreme folly."
Then she says "the .22 pistol was okay but I think I want to learn to shoot that" and points to my Rossi 92 SRC (my .357 Magnum cowboy rifle). She then recites a ton of the stuff my friend and I have discussed about the enormous flexibility of a .357 based carbine. Yes folks, it may not have seemed that way but she'd been listening carefully the whole time.
Seriously, I was astounded at her choice because if I had to select just one of my guns for her to learn, that would be it.
So I'm not really sure if I have a specific point right now or if I'm just rambling but I gotta say that tonight sure was a dramatic shift in the dynamic of our household and I am so very proud of my wife for her decisions.
So I switch what I'm going to take a little with a bias towards the lighter stuff and off we go. Since it's her first time at the NRA-HQ range she has to take the educational quiz which she flies right through. Then it's into the range area where she nervously and slowly but very methodically proceeds to use a few magazines to rip one big jagged hole in the 8 ring with the .22lr pistol at about 10 feet. Now I'm impressed.
She looks at me absolutely stone faced and says "I want to shoot that one" (pointing at my P-3AT). Oh boy, so I let her know that "tiny" doesn't always mean less bang but she decides to try it anyway. First bang, edge of target. She looks at me in shock. Second bang, complete flier. Third bang in the 5 ring. She puts it down and says "that's NASTY".
Still no hint of a smile or excitement, no hint of upset, total stoneface.
So then she says "how about the one you carry all the time" (Taurus Millennium Pro PT-140). I explain that it's a pretty powerful gun 'cause I don't want her surprised. She frowns and says she'll shoot it anyway. First shot she scares herself half to death with it but she is very self controlled when she puts it carefully down on the table and then backs away. I'm thinking "oh crap, so much for that".
So I look at her and say "surprised you a little didn't it". I get this half smile and she says "yup". I say "it's like a horse, you gotta get right back on, will you shoot it two more times?" She frowns but says okay. BANG, flier on the edge of the target. I show her how to adjust her grip and stance a little... BANG, right in the 9 ring but pulled to the left. She looks at me and says "okay, I'm not afraid of it now but I'm done for tonight".
We pack it up and head home. She's really quiet for the car ride home but that's usual when she has a lot she's thinking over. Nevertheless I'm thinking to myself "well, she really didn't enjoy that so she probably won't go again".
So we get home and I'm cleaning things up and locking them away and she comes into the room.
"You didn't really have any fun did you?" I ask.
"Well," she says "it wasn't really about fun tonight".
Okay now I'm really wondering what's going on so I ask her to explain.
As it turns out she's been thinking a lot about guns and the surrounding issues and decided, as she put it, that it was "a lot like knowing how to change a tire or the oil in the car." To wit, she doesn't actually enjoy the task and she doesn't think she'll ever enjoy it, but has decided that to stay ignorant about it would be extreme folly."
Then she says "the .22 pistol was okay but I think I want to learn to shoot that" and points to my Rossi 92 SRC (my .357 Magnum cowboy rifle). She then recites a ton of the stuff my friend and I have discussed about the enormous flexibility of a .357 based carbine. Yes folks, it may not have seemed that way but she'd been listening carefully the whole time.
Seriously, I was astounded at her choice because if I had to select just one of my guns for her to learn, that would be it.
So I'm not really sure if I have a specific point right now or if I'm just rambling but I gotta say that tonight sure was a dramatic shift in the dynamic of our household and I am so very proud of my wife for her decisions.
, soon you'll be instituting the 2 for 1 rule (For every 2 guns you buy yourself , you have to buy her one) . Nice having a wife that quietly listens ain't it ?!
