need some help with the wife

[cjkpkg]

So we talked about buying a gun and she didn't outright say no. To me that was a yes.

Today I finally showed her pics of the m&p15-22 that I bought and have yet to collect from the FFL location.

She pinched a fit greater than I would have predicted but I think I am at a place where she will be OK with keeping it. Phew!

So I need some suggestions and approaches that have helped some of you clear the way. We have 3 kids 11, 7, and 5 so safety is paramount.

Funny she was OK with a pistol but not an "evil" assault weapon.

A pistol around the house gives me more heartburn than a rifle ever could.

All guidance is appreciated...TIA

 

[BillK01]

Not sure how much help I am but we have 5 & 7 year old boys and they both shoot my 15-22 like champs (with LOTS of supervision) and LOVE it. My wife has also shot it (in addition to my Shield and Sig P225 9mm's) and even though she's not a big gun nut like me she enjoyed it and did well.

I think once she saw how easy to shoot, quiet and little recoil there is she changed her mind on it being an EBR. Get the whole family out to the range for some shooting and I'll bet she comes around.

 

[Daniel Cox]

Just go get the damn gun and ask for forgiveness later. I have 2 kids and understand your situation. My kids are 2 and 5. First off go get a safe before you buy your next gun and lock your valuables up and guns. It is the best way with children. Safes are more important than your next gun. All gun owners should buy a safe before getting a collection of guns. It keeps the guns from the small ones and older ones and the criminals.

 

[Taylor339]

Just go get the damn gun and ask for forgiveness later. I have 2 kids and understand your situation. My kids are 2 and 5. First off go get a safe before you buy your next gun and lock your valuables up and guns. It is the best way with children. Safes are more important than your next gun. All gun owners should buy a safe before getting a collection of guns. It keeps the guns from the small ones and older ones and the criminals.

"It keeps the guns from the criminals?" That's why mine aren't in a safe.

 

[BillK01]

I agree with Daniel. I bought a small Liberty Centurion from Lowes for $334. It's perfect for my regular use collection of M&P 15-22, M&P 15 TS, M&P Shield and other handguns and ammo. The rest of my stuff that I don't use regularly is in my Dad's big boy safe at his house. I think having the safe really helped to ease my wife's mind. My hd Glock 23 is still in a small pistol safe in my bedroom.

 

[zload]

Not much help here my wife loves to shoot. I would suggest ear plugs/glasses and find something fun to shoot. Don't make it an all day trip to keep their interest without wearing them out.

 

[cjkpkg]

Awesome...keep em coming.

Best case is getting her to meet me at the range to shoot some targets. Right now she is like "absolutely not" but I have heard that before. Been together 20 years and married 16.

I cut the last conversation off and she was kind of like "whatever". That tells me I am potentially OK if I play it cool and keep it positive.

 

[BillK01]

Awesome...keep em coming.

Best case is getting her to meet me at the range to shoot some targets. Right now she is like "absolutely not" but I have heard that before. Been together 20 years and married 16.

I cut the last conversation off and she was kind of like "whatever". That tells me I am potentially OK if I play it cool and keep it positive.

Lol. Love the "whatever". In guyspeak I take it as "I'm not happy about it but you win". Works for me! I've heard it a few times myself in our 18 years of marriage. She always gets over it - whatever "it" may be at the time.

 

[don5]

I suggest you invest in a couple of electronic earmuffs for each of you. They can be had for $20 mailorder. Take some balloons, 20 oz plastic bottles filled with water. Something other than paper to shoot at. Paper is boring-especially for kids and women. Make it fun so they will want to come again. Just remember eye and ear protection. This way they won't be startled by the sound. Electronic muffs are nice because you can talk to each other and actually hear without raising your voice. Shaving cream cans work well also. Good luck and enjoy. Just be safe and have fun.

 

[richeyo2]

I've got two boys 8 & 14. Wife loves to shoot also so we all hit the range, usually twice a week during the summer. Probably slack of some this summer because of ammo prices.

I suggest buying her her own rifle. Also talk/explain that the rifles sold to us today are NOT assault rifles & that's not what AR stands for like most think.

 

[amazingflapjack]

My wife is my partner in life; I don't make decisions without her.

 

[richeyo2]

My wife is my partner in life; I don't make decisions without her.

That's true & I don't either but he said he asked

 

[bandit67]

I brought my wife and 11 year old daughter out with me last weekend and let them shoot my new 15-22.

I ran 75 rounds through the rifle, the only 75 rounds I've run through it since I bought it. My wife and daughter ran 375 rounds, and we figure our 11 year old ran a good 250 rounds.

I bought the gun so I'd have an AR-style that is a lot cheaper to shoot than my 5.56 AR. I could barely get the freakin gun away from them. My wife has just shot her first gun within the last month, and I bought a 1911-style BB pistol for my daughter for Christmas.

We're going out again tomorrow. I jokingly told my daughter that she wasn't going with me tomorrow, and she informed me that indeed she was going.

I need to try to plan a day that I can leave the girls home so I can have some time with MY 15-22, because now they think it's fun to turn the black target to all flourescent green, or put a lot of holes in soda cans.

 

[battlegraduate09]

While I respect the communication between you and your wife (I feel the same way, my girl just happens to share most of the same hobbies as I do) May I suggest, talking to the wife about getting the children involved and sharing the safety issues with them ? I feel that knowledge plays the biggest role in keeping any firearm in the house, rather you live alone or have 10 kids there. On the issue of getting your wife to agree on the subject, patience is the companion of wisdom. Get the 22 rifle, become familiar with it. Once you understand it and the safety precautions 100% then share with your wife. Then see if she is interested in sharing with your 11 year old. Going over the rules, safety, ect. Also like stated above, when they do come along to shooting with you, make it fun.

When teaching my sister how to shoot, i used a Daisy BB gun. I would mark the different spots in the target and she would get a prize, so to speak. The bigger prizes were reserved for things she didnt know i was watching for. Such as checking the window to see how many bbs were left, putting the safety on and off, and overall handling the weapon responsibly. She earned alot of trips to her favorite place to eat, and i suffered through some long lines at places like Claires, and whatever that store is that is all pink and full of ear rings. She now shoots the 15-22 very well, and is responsible and aware of the firearm. It was a beautiful thing, and hopefully you will see your children doing the same thing. I have some pictures of her shooting, but i dont want to infringe on your thread further.

 

[Doc Robin]

Eye and ear protection while at the range is a must.

Trigger lock & locked in a safe; ammo & mags locked up separate. Don't take the gamble.

Bandit: sounds like you have a green light to buy another 15-22.

My bride of 33 years order a new Dooney & Burke purse today; got the e-mail conformation from my PayPal account. Now if I can find a Kel Tec PMR 30 .22 mag pistol we will be even.

Bill

 

[BobC357]

When I was young, I grew up with guns and the fact they weren't toys. Safety was paramount and they were used for competition, sport, target/plinking and hunting ONLY. We even took our rifles to school and shot at the school shooting range. That was then. Things have changed. Back then, everybody was taught the value of human life, right and wrong, acceptable and not acceptable and the thought of playing with a gun, pointing one at somebody or even the concept of shooting somebody was not even a concept on the radar.

Today, I keep all the guns in the safe except for the one I use for home defense. Rifles, pistols, shotguns, etc are locked up along with the ammo. Only the .357 mag and a couple dozen rounds are accessable 24 x 7. If I had kids today, I would probably have a lockbox with a biometric (fingerprint) release so I could access the gun quickly without having to fumble for keys or turn on the lights.

As for handling the wife, I haven't located the Wife Repair Shop yet but, here are some tips...

• If she says, "Go ahead. I don't mind." Look out! It's a trap!
• When she says "Go ahead, sure, no problem" that means "If you do it, you're in trouble!"
• If she says “I’m not angry.” then she is very, very angry.
• When she says, "I'm not upset" that means she is extremely upset.
• When she says "It's your decision" you should already know the "correct" decision
• If she says "Do whatever you want" that means you're going to pay for this later.
• "We need to talk" means you're in for a tongue lashing
• If she asks "Do you love me?" she wants something expensive.
• "Sure... go ahead" means don't you dare!
• "You need to learn to communicate better" means "Just agree with me."
• "Are you listening to me!?" Oops Too late, you're dead.

 

[ReadyToGo!]

Is your wife competitive?

I already posted a link to a video I posted on YouTube in another thread on this forum... I don't want to spam everyone by posting it again, but I made it to show how an M&P 15-22 and a high capacity magazine can be a soccer mom's best friend.

Am I a Threat - YouTube

She might like the "his & hers" section of the video.

For the record, my husband actually likes the video.

 

[Jack Wagon]

My .02 cents, do not take them to a range the first time out if at all possible. Ranges tend to be very loud and can make young children feel uncomfortable. Better to take them out into the country somewhere. Do you know anyone with land that will allow you to shoot on? I take my kids out to my deer lease. I will bring a couple boxes of skeet, along with drink cans, watter bottles, and 2-litres. We set them up on tree limbs, stumps, and logs for them to shoot at. I bring a chair and a tripod to set them up with. We all have a blast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=830EZGGAAbw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Jyezahn]

Just show her this video of Katelyn Francis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd4B77PkeaU

 

[JaPes]

Today I finally showed her pics of the m&p15-22 that I bought and have yet to collect from the FFL location.

She pinched a fit greater than I would have predicted but I think I am at a place where she will be OK with keeping it. Phew!

First and foremost, I suspect her reaction is due to the media misinformation, propaganda campaign for increased gun control legislation. The anti-gun biased rhetoric and negative connotative words set off an emotional reaction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2riOiBaZrg


The challenge is to gently persuade her to your viewpoint. When a belief is challenged, the normal reaction is to dig in and hold ground. Guide her so that she can come to the realization, on her own, that the M&P 15-22 in function is exactly the same as the non-threatening Ruger 10/22.

Maybe a friend has a plain jane, stock 10/22 you can borrow. Persuade your wife to go to the range with you, and shoot the 10/22 off hand. Make the range session very positive and fun, like an old-school trip to the bowling alley.

When she's accustomed to the visually non-threatening, traditional appearance 10/22 with it's 10-round rotary magazine, then introduce the 15-22.

Hopefully she'll see for herself that there is no difference in the basic semi-auto function between the two. She'll see that the differences are cosmetic and ergonomic.

I took a female cousin to the range. She bought into the anti-gun media propaganda for years, and was 100% anti-gun. When I disclosed to her that I'm a firearms enthusiast, she passionately tried to argue the anti-gun position. Her perspective was that I was putting myself in danger, and she wanted to protect me. I appreciated that.

I told her that her statements would carry more weight with me if she gained first hand experience shooting a firearm. She accepted the challenge with trepidation. I took her to the range. I taught her safe firearms handling, and basic shooting fundamentals. We progressed:

Ruger 10/22 > Ruger MKIII > S&W M&P 22 pistol > S&W M&P 9fs.

To her amazement, she found she enjoyed shooting and she was a naturally good shot. She asked if we could go to the range again the next week. We did. After that range session, she applied for an Illinois F.O.I.D. card. When the card arrived, I gave her a gift certificate to use at the LGS to help offset the cost of her first firearm.

Now she owns a Browning Buckmark and a Glock 19 Gen4. She's now a member of the NRA.