Pink pistols and progeny?

S

Spats McGee

Administrator
I ran a search through the forums, and could not find what I was looking for. I saw several threads on pink pistols, but none addressed my specific question. If this is a question that has come up many times and been beaten to death, please point me in the right direction, and accept my apologies for the redundant thread.

My wife and I have a daughter, who is not quite ready to start shooting. I have seen a variety of pistols in pink, lavender, and maybe some other colors. I've discussed these pistols with my wife, and I can't decide if they're a good idea or not. On the one hand, there's the argument that a pink or lavender pistol could be mistaken for a toy gun. On the other hand, there's the argument that having one in the house gives you the opportunity to teach your children that real guns come in all colors, and how to distinguish a brightly-colored real gun from a toy.

Where do you fine folks come down on this issue, & why?

Thanks,
Spats
 
As much as pink guns make my tummy churn,,,

They (as a marketing tool) have gotten more women into the shooting sports than any other innovation.

My good friend and I tried to get his 8 year old daughter to go shooting with us,,,
She came to the range and wore earmuffs and watched us but never shot,,,
Then for her 9th birthday I bought her a pink Daisy Scout BB rifle,,,
Her "princess" eyes lit up and she started shooting with us,,,
Come spring her dad will get her a pink Cricket .22

A lady I work with tolerated her husband's love of shooting,,,
Then he bought her a Ruger Mk III with pink pearled grips and a pink case,,,
All of a sudden she likes going to the range and shooting "Miss Piggy" at tin cans.

Go figure!

I never thought about pink guns being mistaken for toys,,,
I doubt that would be a concern if basic firearm safety training is in effect,,,
If it's a matter of "other" kids seeing them as toys they should not be available in the first place.

So, if Pink is the method that gets more ladies into shooting,,,
I'm all for it, even though it makes my eyes water. :o

.
 
I like pink and will buy one of those Charter Arms pink revolvers if I see a good deal on a used one. As far as being mistaken for a toy,with it or any other gun, keep out out of reach of children. Your daughter will be the exception after she is taught and you are sure she will abide by all the rules of gun safety. Make her understand that if she ever shows it to any of her friends that she will no longer be able to touch or shoot it.
 
My wife is a girly girl. I got her a 642 with a pink grip because she oooed and awed over it at the gun store. Now it's my favorite pocket gun, pink grips and all. I don't think the grip color is particularly important as no one will see it unless it's required.
 
I was thinking of a pink cricket for my grand daughter when she gets a little older. But I don't think I would give a child just starting to shoot a handgun. I want something a can grab "in case" she get excited. Rifles are easier to aim and will give positive feedback sooner. Just my opinion FWIW.:)
 
Pink pistols and progeny?
Click to expand...

The title made me think Pink Pistols.org. And progeny. Completely different discussion...

My wife and I have a daughter, who is not quite ready to start shooting. I have seen a variety of pistols in pink, lavender, and maybe some other colors. I've discussed these pistols with my wife, and I can't decide if they're a good idea or not. On the one hand, there's the argument that a pink or lavender pistol could be mistaken for a toy gun. On the other hand, there's the argument that having one in the house gives you the opportunity to teach your children that real guns come in all colors, and how to distinguish a brightly-colored real gun from a toy.

Where do you fine folks come down on this issue, & why?
Click to expand...

I think requiring firearms to be a "scary color" (black, blued, etc.) is an attempt to demonize them.
 
My precious better half spews at each ad she sees with pink guns in them. She stated, "Next they will take the firearms companies to court for targeting females by marketing schemes. You want me to kill someone with one of those little pink guns? C'mon, man! Just hand me my d*** .38! (S&W M37)

Amen.
<7>
 
I guess that being a minister, I have developed many different means to try to steer a conversation to Jesus Christ, and have often been rewarded for doing so.

I see pink pistols doing the same for the gun market, just another means to reach the non-shooting masses.

For sure, if it only took a set of pink grips to get my daughter shooting, or a pink range bag, I'd do it in a New York minute.

Heck, . . . I'd even figure out how to dye one of my handmade holsters pink for her if it would do the trick.

Trouble is, I don't have a daughter, . . .

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Charter Has a BIG line up of colored handguns. For Example...

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http://www.charterfirearms.com/products/Charter_Undercover_53873.html

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http://www.charterfirearms.com/products/Charter_Undercover_53833.html
 
Pink guns make my wife roll her eyes. It's not that she thinks they look like toys; it's that she's much more a tomboy than a girly girl. She prefers "sexy" guns, like ones used in old westerns or detective movies.

My opinion is that they are potentially very good at attracting new shooters to the sport. Paintball went though something similar maybe 10 years ago; paintball guns used to be black or gun gray, usually with wood or black rubber grips. Models that came in wild colors sold better, and the trend grew. Nowadays, most professional players probably wouldn't be caught dead with basic black.

That's not really comparing apples to apples, since paintball guns are technically sporting equipment and neither toys nor firearms. But it illustrates that where there's a demand for something, an enterprising company will strive to fill that demand. The user is made happy and the manufacturer makes more money: everybody wins.

A gun is no less a gun if it wears fancy colors, and if a child is brought up right, the color won't matter. To them, the color will be completely normal. Being taught respect for a gun at the range and afterwards helping Mom clean it at the table will have the same effect on a child whether the gun is black, stainless, or rasta.
 
Whatever floats her boat...

When your daughter is ready to start shooting and you are ready to buy a gun just for her why not ask her then? My opinion certainly won't influence her decision.
 
My wife won't even touch a pink gun, she hate's them. The only problem I see with someone almost old enough to shoot starting out with a pink handgun is that she's not starting out with a pink .22 LR single shot rifle.
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies. There's an interesting group of opinions here. Perhaps I should have been clearer about why I was asking. I am not overly concerned about getting her interested in shooting. She's already interested, just not ready to start. I was not asking about what I should buy her when the time comes for her to start shooting. (There were some nice pink Ruger 10/22s at the last gun show, though.)

I hadn't really thought about the marketing aspect, but it's an interesting one. I guess that's a help to us (gun owners) as a community.

The reason that I asked the question was simply that a co-worker of mine has a pink 9mm and children. This started the discussion between me and my wife about whether a pink/purple/Bloomberg Special pistol was more likely to be mistaken for a toy, or whether they present opportunities to teach kids to tell the toys from the real thing. My daughter went to the gun show with me last weekend, and I quizzed her on several of the polymer guns to see if she could: (a) tell real from fake; and (b) tell me how she knew the difference. Also, I do keep my guns safely secured from children. I can't guarantee that her friends' parents will do the same, though. If one of her friends pulls the "hey-look-at-this" routine, I want to be sure she can tell quickly if the gun is real or a toy.
 
If you were concerned with going all pink and making it look like a toy... I don't know if that would ever be an issue if you locked your guns up anyways... I do understand your nervousness however and never actually thought about it.

I think pink guns are a great thing, and sadly I should probably never admit this.... but I kind of like the way the Remington 870 .20ga shotgun sitting in my store looks with the pink laminate stocks, it makes it look different lol:rolleyes:

I think the more people, wives, daughters ect that get into shooting only makes our cause stronger. I recently sold a pink cricket rifle to a dad with a young daughter, and she was VERY excited and eager to get her new pink cricket rifle... honestly it made my day selling it to them.

The color pink can also make them a little bit more comfortable not only with the gun itself but seeing that the shooting community accepts them. I know it may sound far fetched but a woman toting a pink pistol might not feel so out of place at the range with all the guns when there are gun manufacturers making firearms specifically for them.:confused:
 
Again, my guns = secured. Other people's guns = unknown. Locking up my guns doesn't help her learn to tell if her friend's mother's pistol is real.

The more I think about the issue of pink getting more women into shooting, though, the more I do think that's a good idea.
 
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