OK, so I've been married for 11 years. Very early on in our relationship, I had a discussion with my wife and asked her if she could commit to shooting (and potentially killing) a person if it was a question of defending herself. The answer was not enough of a "yes" that I felt comfortable with her carrying. Then I got out of actively shooting for a while and firearms just lived in the safe, so it wasn't a big deal for a long time. She's never liked guns, but understands it's my thing, appreciates the security it brings our home, and has been generally supportive of all my hobbies.
Well lately, I've been shooting a lot more, been getting back into guns as a hobby, etc. Couple this with the fact that my son was born late last year, and the gun discussion in our house has changed radically. Then you layer on the fact that she's a teacher and she's looking at what is happening in the larger national discussion/current events.
Since becoming a mother I've also seen a fundamental shift in her where it comes to the welfare of our child/family. When asked the question "Are you willing to shoot a person who would do your child or family harm?" The answer is now "Absolutely." No equivocation. No hesitation. OK, so now it's time to start the discussion in earnest.
Our first recent step was that I sent her to a class on responding to an active shooter at a local range. This was a class only setup, teaching people how to think, react, and protect themselves in a situation with an active shooter. She enjoyed the class and took away some new thoughts on how to better survive in her school. It was a win. Following this we both went and I renewed my permit and she got hers for the first time.
Over the weekend I pulled just about everything out of the safe, laid examples of everything out, and we talked for about 2-3 hours. Starting with safety, my goals were to teach her safe gun handling. How to load/unload/make safe. And basic gun mechanics (what is a semi-auto, revolver, pump-action, bolt-action, and how does each work). I was so very proud of her, she asked great questions, and did well on the basic proficiency drills I gave her (loading, unloading, check chamber, etc).
One thing I have to brag about as well: I showed her how to use/load my Mossberg 12 gauge pump. I then showed her how to use/load several of my AR's. I set the pump down next to a 16" AR with a collapsible stock and a red-dot sight, and asked her to compare feel and movement and which she, as a woman would rather have in her hands at 2:00AM if there was an intruder in the house? She picked up each. got the heft. Asked "How do you see the sights on the shotgun in the dark?" You don't. She asked "So with this one I have 8 rounds and it takes a long time to reload, but with this one I have 30 and then I can have another 30 rounds pretty fast?" Yes. She thought about it for a few ticks, "Well then why the heck would Joe Biden say I should only use a double barrel with only TWO shots?" Welcome to the Second Amendment Party, NRA memberships are right this way, dear.
So now the training question: in going through this, I found that she is right-handed, but is left-eye-dominant (never knew that before). She finds it VERY difficult to even CLOSE her left eye independently. This wasn't a problem with the dot-sights as I had her practicing with both eyes open, but I also want her to be proficient with iron sights. How do you start training that for a new shooter? I'm trying to put together some kind of curriculum/training plan for her. I figured we would start out on .22's with dot-sights. I want this to be fun for her, at least at the start so she likes shooting before we start tackling some of the harder stuff.
Well lately, I've been shooting a lot more, been getting back into guns as a hobby, etc. Couple this with the fact that my son was born late last year, and the gun discussion in our house has changed radically. Then you layer on the fact that she's a teacher and she's looking at what is happening in the larger national discussion/current events.
Since becoming a mother I've also seen a fundamental shift in her where it comes to the welfare of our child/family. When asked the question "Are you willing to shoot a person who would do your child or family harm?" The answer is now "Absolutely." No equivocation. No hesitation. OK, so now it's time to start the discussion in earnest.
Our first recent step was that I sent her to a class on responding to an active shooter at a local range. This was a class only setup, teaching people how to think, react, and protect themselves in a situation with an active shooter. She enjoyed the class and took away some new thoughts on how to better survive in her school. It was a win. Following this we both went and I renewed my permit and she got hers for the first time.
Over the weekend I pulled just about everything out of the safe, laid examples of everything out, and we talked for about 2-3 hours. Starting with safety, my goals were to teach her safe gun handling. How to load/unload/make safe. And basic gun mechanics (what is a semi-auto, revolver, pump-action, bolt-action, and how does each work). I was so very proud of her, she asked great questions, and did well on the basic proficiency drills I gave her (loading, unloading, check chamber, etc).
One thing I have to brag about as well: I showed her how to use/load my Mossberg 12 gauge pump. I then showed her how to use/load several of my AR's. I set the pump down next to a 16" AR with a collapsible stock and a red-dot sight, and asked her to compare feel and movement and which she, as a woman would rather have in her hands at 2:00AM if there was an intruder in the house? She picked up each. got the heft. Asked "How do you see the sights on the shotgun in the dark?" You don't. She asked "So with this one I have 8 rounds and it takes a long time to reload, but with this one I have 30 and then I can have another 30 rounds pretty fast?" Yes. She thought about it for a few ticks, "Well then why the heck would Joe Biden say I should only use a double barrel with only TWO shots?" Welcome to the Second Amendment Party, NRA memberships are right this way, dear.
So now the training question: in going through this, I found that she is right-handed, but is left-eye-dominant (never knew that before). She finds it VERY difficult to even CLOSE her left eye independently. This wasn't a problem with the dot-sights as I had her practicing with both eyes open, but I also want her to be proficient with iron sights. How do you start training that for a new shooter? I'm trying to put together some kind of curriculum/training plan for her. I figured we would start out on .22's with dot-sights. I want this to be fun for her, at least at the start so she likes shooting before we start tackling some of the harder stuff.
