Monday, April 30, 2012

Why My Wife and Daughters Learned How to Shoot


Why My Wife and Daughters Learned How to Shoot


The link to a CNN story above goes into detail about the grim realities women and girls face in the aftermath of a disaster. This hit me in the stomach. I love my wife more than life itself, she brought two wonderful little redheads into my life that I simply adore. To think of them having to go through anything like this is beyond my ability.

Before I left we had some conversations about shooting. She’s not opposed to it, but I simply didn’t make the time. This article has put a sense of urgency in those plans. Here’s my plan to get her up to speed on running my guns.

Prior to coaching women I never really thought about how differently women view the world. Their situational awareness is usually higher than men’s. As men we don’t leave the every building at night with a plan/counter attack strategies in mind. Most women do. Safely and effectively arming your significant other is just the next step in the mindset most women have.

I remember reading an article that spoke about firearms as the equalizer for women. A large male perpetrator has no fear of a woman until he knows she is armed. Your security plan for you home has to go further than just buying a weapon and teaching your wife how to use it. You must have quality doors, locks, situational awareness, know your neighbors and cameras have gotten so cheap that as a force multiplier they are hard to beat.

Finally, as city, county and state budgets continue to shrink response times are going to get longer and longer. The ability to protect your own family and aid your neighbors is going to become more and more important as our currency continues to weaken. Be frank and talk about whether it’s better to live knowing you killed a potential rapist or live with the screams of your assault or your children’s assault that you were powerless to stop. Those are ultimately the two extremes we may face.
1.       Have her read the article about Haiti above.
2.       Talk about what kind of emergencies and/or natural disasters could lead to something like this where we live.
3.       Talk about our plan for natural disasters/emergencies and contingents therein
a.       What if one of us can’t get home?
b.      What if we can’t get calls through?
c.       Where would we meet?
d.      What alternative means of communications do we have?
4.       Talk about home defense versus being stranded in an emergency.
5.       Shoot a lot, and possibly with an instructor instead of me. Find out what guns she feels most comfortable with and design a plan around that platform.
6.       Make sure she’s familiar enough with basic firearms procedure that she can run any gun she finds.


Great list of reasons to own a gun: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/gillespie1.1.1.html


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