A delicate subject to broach

M

maxinquaye

New member
Maybe you guys can help me figure out a way to broach this subject with a friend of mine...

A friend of mine is a single mother. She is 40ish, and I have known her for about 3 years. She started out as a client, turned in to an acquaintence and then a friend. Once every couple of months we go somewhere with her two 13 yr. old (twins) boys - sometimes to the beach, to ride go carts, etc. Almost a big brother kind of thing.
I would like to take her and the boys to the range, but I don't know how to ask. I have no idea what her views are, but being in Kali, good chance she's an anti by default.
I think once she got on the range she would enjoy it though. And ideally I would LOVE to see her buy a gun and learn how to use it - she has NO protection where she lives, not even an alarm.
Any ideas? Short literature I could slip her to read, to understand it is HER responsibility to protect those guys?

Thanks!
 
Ask if you can buy the boys pellet or BB guns for their birthday, and go from there. This worked for me in a similar situation. Keep trying. Good luck.

Ledbetter
 
There's no sense in broaching the subject unless she's a willing participant. Easy enough to bring up an RKBA discussion and see where she falls. If necessary, play the education=safety angle.
Rich
 
Good idea ledbetter. Depending on how old they are you may want to get your own BB gun then offer to teach them how to shoot it. Get a pellet trap and make your own shooting range in your basement. My daughter and I shoot in our basement in the winter time.

Shok

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"In 1789, when used without any qualifying adjective, 'the militia' referred to all citizens capable of bearing arms."
Akhil Reed Amar, Yale University
 
I'm with Rich on this one .... bring up the subject & see how that goes & if possitive, take 'em out to the range & use a .22 LR rifle (= easy to do well + no recoil & no handgun, etc. things to turn 'em off) ... If nothing else, work the Boy Scout angle re The Markmanship course of fire ... hey! it's fun, it's safe & what could go wrong there?

I'd go easy unless she's a willing participant. It's always a lot easier to go gung-ho once you're "in bed" (no pun intended - seriously) than it is to back out of something once you're in over your head ....
 
Shok,

My daughter and I do the same thing in the back yard. Made a pellet trap out of a cardboard box, some old books and a piece of shelf board. Kids love those shoot'n'see targets that turn yellow where they're hit. I ask some of her friends' folks if their kids can shoot too.

Regards,

Ledbetter
 
I'd have to agree with Rich. Bring up RKBA first and see where she stans on the issue. She just might be "pro-gun" anyway. And if she's not, maybe you can slowly work on changing her mind. If that's the case, just remember you have to be patient. There is a lot of misinformation being thrown at the public right now. It's not her fault, you just have to give her better information and reasoning. Eventually, it might be good to take her to the range during a youth competion so she can see how responsible the kids are. Have her meet them and talk to them and find out how young they were when they started shooting. She will see how well-rounded and grown-up they are.
Also, maybe hang out with other people who are pro-RKBA so she will see that it's perfectly normal, not just a bunch of crazy rednecks (hey, I resemble that remark! :p).
Good luck. :)
 
I'd approach things a little differently - Bring up the subject of safety first, and explain that you'd like to make sure that the kids knew how to be safe around firearms, and that you wouldn't mind teaching them, and in the process you'd remove any curiousity that they'd have on the topic.

Explain that firearms are a fact of life, and that it's better to know about them (how to unload them, make sure they're safe, etc.) than to not have that knowledge. Believe it or not, that argument has worked with a couple of very anti-gun female critters, one of which was demanding her own 9mm after about 30 minutes at the range...
 
sounbds like a mix of good advice and approaches...personally. I'm always straight forward. "Hey-I'm going out to play with a new toy-wanna join me?"

Then when you hit the range-she kinda is 'stuck'. :) Usually I find it's easy to coeherse a non-gunner into trying a few shots-after that they don't wanna give the gun back. ;)

"That's a GUN!"

'Yuppers...sure is. Ever shot one?'

"NO!...I hate them!"

'really? If you've never used one like this how can you hate it?'

"It KILLS people!"

'I don't see anyone standing in front of the paper target...come here and let me show you....' ;)



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Cut to the chase . Marry her and you can protect her whether she likes it or not . NEXT!!!

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TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA GOA
 
Phone NRA hqtrs and ask them to send you 3 or 4 relevant brochures (women as victims, sporting use of guns, etc.). Leave them lying out in the open so she can't miss them.
 
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