Some years back after my Sis's divorce her ex had left about half a dozen guns in her house. She was terrified. She wouldn't touch them. She wanted somebody to help get them out of the house. Some of them were fine rifles and shotguns and a few pistols. One is a little .22 and the other a .380 Llama that proved unreliable. While we were there her and her friend told me how much they detested semi auto military pattern weapons because 'all you had to do was machine a small part and make them automatic." There was no use to argue at the time.

Present day. Got an email. Sis was coming to Charleston from around Boca Raton because they had a lot of looting and rioting and she was scared ****less and wanted to pick her guns. I told her that what she has wasn't suitable, but she came on anyway. I told her the ropes of SD and lent her one of my nines and I told her to PLEASE get training and find something suitable for her. She said she had a revolver she had lent out but 'didn't know what it was'.

I sent her an email with the gun instructions attached and the 'rules of gun safety' along with some other tips.

Next I'll get her to join the NRA.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

...funny how that ideal socialistic dream turns out when it rears its ugly head. Happens every time, without exception.

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NRA Life Member

My first daughter-in-law was about 21 when she married into the family. I thought she would like guns, after all she is pure German. Our family is all German and we like guns, right.

Turns out she had actually never been close to a gun and was terrified!

She's been married to my son 15 years now and he still likes and has guns. When they lived in Texas, she was all over him to teach her to shoot his pistol (1911A! 45ACP). He said he needed something more suitable and never did a thing!

On Friday July 3rd we were at my gun club giving the two oldest grandkids (13 & 11) their first shooting instructions. Since they are both left handed, I borrowed my second son's left handed bolt action Lakefield (Canadian Savage) 22. The kids had a great time! BUT I hadn't thought to take a right handed rifle for the adults to enjoy. I did have a 6" model 10 and about 250 rounds of non +P SWC ammo that are very accurate and mild recoil. So everyone got to shoot the revolver some. When it was the D-I-L's turn she loaded and fired, and repeated several times.

Now that they only live 528 miles away (but who's counting?) the next time, she and I will make a range trip and work on her motor skills and paper punching technique! I will work on her pistol size also, I have K-Frames in 6, 4, & 2 inch barrel lengths. We have got her encouraging her husband to "bring home some more ammo!"

Ivan

This reminds me of an experience I had years ago. I was in the Jaycees with a fellow who had a lot of the "progressive" attributes, but he expressed an interest in shooting from hearing some of my stories. So I took him out to the range and set up the bowling pin range. I took my S&W Model 624 in .44 Special so that the recoil wouldn't be overwhelming but there would be enough soup to take a pin off the table. And so I told him what to do and he went to work on the pins. He had a ball. He did get a hammer bite on his hand and he looked at that as a badge of honor. He ended up taking one of the shot pins home for a souvenir. I haven't seen him in years but I always remember how much fun it was for both of us to go to the pin range.

When I married my wife, 49 years ago, she did not come from a gun family. They were not antigun, but neutral about it all. I have always been a gun guy and always will be and she accepts that.

I was an LEO and one night I had to work until 0200 when I was usually off duty at 2200. Usually she was waiting for me in her baby doll nightie and a cold beer that would usually lead to a very good night. This particular night she had on her winter bath robe and was a clutching a m29 that I used to hunt with and had become a house gun. No cell phones in those days, so I was not able to advise her of my late arrival. as I entered the door I realized I was looking down the 44 caliber bore of that weapon in the hands of my wife pointed directly at my chest. After normal breathing and blood pressure resumed, she simply stated " I heard a loud noise in the garage". I immediately checked the garage and found a ladder, that had been stored improperly, had fallen and taken several cans of paint with it. In a quiet house, it must have been an impressive noise. She became a believer and so did I. Don't mess with a pistol totin mama.

...Missus Smiff is an extremely gentle soul and an acknowledged 'fraidy cat' but I have gotten her to shoot some mild guns. I'm really worried about her 'freezing up' in a dire situation (as well as me because I've been in some situations, but don't know how I'd react in an HD situation) BUT, her family harks from the geographic center of West Virginia and I believe that the genes will tell out. They are somehow related to Devil Anse Hatfield, I think through Ellison Hatfield.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

About 1/3 of the people from West Virginia claim to be descended from Devil Anse!

Ivan

As they say, a mugging with turn a liberal into a conservative immediately.

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Bill

.... but the only documented illustrious (instead of notorious) ancestor I have was Lydia Smith otherwise known as "The Queen of the Okefenokee Swamp". I even have the book about her. She got rich cutting lumber and selling railroad ties for the north/south railroad that went through there at the turn of last century. She was quite a character. Couple anecdotes:

Her much younger lover that she called 'Baby Doll' got arrested. She went to the Sheriff and bribed him with a check to let 'Baby Doll' out. As soon as they left the jail she went to the bank and stopped payment on the check.

She came upon the lumbermen who worked for her sitting around one day and when asked why she was told that the land was too wet for moving lumber. She cussed them out and said she'd show them it wasn't too wet to work. And she did.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"