And not just for bringing me to term and raising me and all of
that. I am proud of her because lately she has made the decision not
only to buy herself a gun, but to get her CCW and carry.
A
few weeks ago, here in Overland Park, Kansas (a suburb of KC), an
attempted robbery happened at the Oak Park Mall. This is not a crummy,
dead mall by any means; it is pretty upscale and has only gotten more so
in recent years. This robbery happened outside of a Nordstrom, of all
places, and it happened during the day (though in a covered parking
area, so not quite broad daylight). A 64-year-old man was approached by a
young woman who demanded his money; the man refused, so the woman
pistol-whipped him; the woman and her accomplice then drove away.
Thankfully the man didn't suffer any serious injuries. This attack
outraged my mom and she started talking about carrying a gun; a day
later, in an email, she told me that she was serious about getting a gun
and that she "didn't want to be anyone's victim." I couldn't be more
proud.
We are still in the process
of finding out what kind of gun fits her the best and what kind she
likes shooting. This experience has given me a lot of lessons in
introducing new shooters to the world of guns, so I thought I would
share my thoughts about it here.
When
someone wants a gun, it's best to cast a wide net in terms of makes and
models. When my mom told me she wanted to carry, the first place my
mind went was a compact or subcompact semi-auto in 9mm or .380, because
that's what I'd carry. The gentleman behind the gun counter at Bass Pro,
however, correctly assumed that my mom wouldn't be able to easily rack
the slide on this kind of gun, due to the very strong spring that must
be used in such a small firearm. He directed us to the subcompact .38
Special revolvers instead, and it looks like that's what we'll be going
with. Had I continued to focus on the semi-autos, without seeking
advice, my mom might have ended up with a gun that didn't fit her needs.
The
wisdom of the man behind the Bass Pro gun counter brings me to another
point regarding those brand-new to the gun scene - atmosphere matters. I
wanted to go to Bass Pro to look at and handle different models because
every time I've been there and interacted with the folks behind the
counter it's been a positive experience. It's a big, well-lit,
family-friendly, fun store. This is not to say that The Bullet Hole is
some dingy, horrible place crawling with unsavory people - by no means.
But while I prefer to give the little stores my business, I think your
Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's type places are much nicer for window
shopping. Bass Pro ended up being a great choice, because not only did
their employee wisely direct us to the revolvers, but he was a jovial
guy that cracked a lot of jokes and really made my mom feel comfortable
with the whole thing.
The search for a gun entails not
just holding guns in the hand, but firing them too. I took my mom to the
range last week to try out the J-frame. This was not my first time
taking a new shooter to the range, and my mom has fired handguns before,
though it's been a few years. I was reminded that when you're taking a
new (or rusty) shooter out, you should leave no stone unturned.
The night my mom and I went to
the range was pretty busy, and I didn't really have the time to go over
much of anything beyond the four rules on the way in. I realized how
little I had prepared her when, on her last go on the revolver, she
asked me about how the sights on the gun worked. D'oh! I look at this as
a failure on my part, and something of a waste of money (38spl is
expensive!). Contrast this to a few weeks ago when I took my friend Sean
to the range to shoot my Mosquito and try out a Springfield XD9. This
is what we did before going to the range - I consider this the ideal
when taking a new shooter out:
-Took the gun out, showed him that it was clear, explained why that's important
-Explained the workings of the slide, the magazine, and the hammer
-Showed him how it fires (didn't dry fire since it's a rimfire handgun), how to hold it, and how to acquire sights
-Had him hold it and acquire sights, explained ideal stance
-Field stripped it, explained how it fits together
-Went over the 4 rules in detail
Since
my mom and I rented a gun, not all of these are possible, but the more
you go over beforehand, the better (also easier to do this when you
don't have earplugs in and there isn't gunfire all around). I would add
to this explaining how to pull the trigger (squeeze, don't pull) - I
always forget to do this until we're actually on the line, but it's
quite important.
So this is where we're at now
- my mom has more or less settled on a J-frame revolver. We actually
tried out two different ones at the range - one was a small, concealable
Ruger, 5-round capacity, with the hammer hidden in the body of the gun.
The other was a slightly larger model with a 6-round capacity and the
hammer exposed, so worse for carrying. The employee insisted that the
small one was far more unpleasant to fire than the other, though my mom
and I both didn't feel much of a difference, honestly. Even with my
mom's questionable sight picture, she was able to hit the target pretty
well with both. The next thing she wants to do is, with her newfound
knowledge of how to aim, try out both models simultaneously to see what
she likes best.
The last thing I want to do,
before she buys the gun and takes her CCW class, is to talk to her about
the subject I discussed in my "Killing" post from a few weeks back. I'm
happy she wants to assert her rights and do her best to avoid being a
victim, but I want to make absolute sure that she knows what she's
getting into. I'm confident the CCW class will talk about this, but
there's also a whole additional set of rules to conduct yourself by when
you're carrying - not instigating, avoiding confrontation, making sure
you only draw when you're in fear for your life and are prepared to use
the firearm to defend it. I'm in favor of lawful carrying, but only by
those who deeply understand and respect the power that they have by
doing so.
Since I'm getting married in a
few short weeks, things will likely be on hold until September, save for
maybe one more trip to the range to try things out again. I'm sure that
I will continue to learn about dealing with new shooters as this
process continues - look for more entries on the subject to come.
Endnote: I've gotten some feedback, the vast majority positive, on my
Jason Alexander piece, and I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you all for
reading it and, for those of you who did so, for letting me know of your
thoughts.
