I was recently asked to help one of my mom's besties, my "Other Mother," find a gun suitable to her for self defense. She has little to no experience with guns, and except for me taking her out to shoot whatever I find for her, she's probably never going to shoot it again, unless, Gods forbid, she has to defend herself with it. It may get carried in the car- occasionally, but mostly it will probably be for home defense.
I'm looking to get her into a budget .38. Scouring the used market so we can afford some lasergrips to go with it. I feel this should meet her needs, given she has no history of shooting, and is not going to invest herself in the lifestyle or hobby of training, rather nicely.
I keep finding people who lament putting new shooters into revolvers. They cry about this being some thoughtless, antiquated technique with old technology. The tone I hear from some of these people, certain "instructors" in particular, is rather troublesome. The idea that anyone who doesn't have an interest in making training a part of their life doesn't deserve their life, I find distasteful, to say the least. I suspect their own financial remuneration, vindication, and insane narcissism are the real culprits here.
By far and away the biggest malfunction issue I saw was limp-wristing. With untrained women shooters, this x infinity. I'm exponentially more worried about bad things happening because the gun jams than I am her running out of ammo and needing to speed reload.I keep hearing people complain about revolvers and how semi-autos are always superior. I think an awful lot of motherfuckers need to re-evaluate their threat assessment, mission statement, and equipment matrix.
What are the most likely threats to this person?
What are their needs and capabilities?
We're not storming fucking Fallujah.
Training does not automatically equate mindset. It also doesn't even always equate skill. I can think of a couple of well known trainers and in some cases their acolytes, or franchisees, who I want abso-fucking-lutely nothing to do with.
On personal, moral, and tactical bases.
I'm not going to name names, engage in that sort of thing, but I hate these people and everyone like them.
Deep down in the bone, soul saturating hate.
You can starch your 5.11's, and bluster and condescend to everyone less ninja than you, but none of these things actually mean you have skill, common sense, or balls.
I would rather spend my time teaching old widows and single mothers how to use tools they can actually manipulate than I would get rich stroking the egos of tiny dicked, macho douchefucks who wear stupid clothes.
Fuck you.
I hate you.
Hey Seth, Like most eunuchs I guess you didn't have the balls to let me know you were going to write something based on half truths and poor reading comprehension about comments I made to you last night. I'll stick by my comment that someone who doesn't want to gain minimum proficiency with a gun they buy is better served spending their money on life insurance, locks, and alarm systems rather than a gun they don't know how to use and don't want to learn how to use. Confidence doesn't equal capability any more than owning a gun equals protected. Dose of functional insanity, that would be buying someone a gun and not making sure they can at least make it functional and can hit their intended target. Unlike yourself, I'll say what I say and let you see it first. I also don't care if you hate me, you aren't the first and won't be the last. I do think it's pretty funny that an innocuous Facebook post elicited such a visceral response from you. While you're busy telling people it's ok to be mediocre at best, I'll be teaching people who want to be better than mediocre to be the best they can be at a given moment. In keeping with your apparent tween like mental state who just learned how to use fuck in a sentence, I don't hate you, but fuck you too.
ReplyDeleteDon, what I think is funny is you somehow think this is directed at you. You can think what you want, but it's actually not. I've been spewing my hatred of a certain class of "instructor" for some time.
DeleteI hate to break the bad news to you, but if you think all you have to do is strap a pair of laser grips on that .38 and it's gonna shoot exactly where you aim it, you are wrong. This gun will have to be sighted in. Your Grandmother needs to become proficient with this gun so she is used to seeing where the sights hit, so she don't have to rely on the laser. you never when the batteries may go dead. She needs to know how the gun recoils, how to load it ...etc. It's always better safe than sorry. AFTER ALL WHAT IS YOUR GRANDMOTHERS LIFE WORTH???
ReplyDeleteIt's not my grandmother. I understand all these things you feel the need to point out, but my preaching and talking down to this woman isn't going to make her want to become more proficient.
DeleteThe Armed Citizen column of the NRA Journals is replete with incidents of people who haven't fired their guns much at all. I recall one story of a man who hadn't fired his S&W revolver in THREE decades and still did an admirable job of putting his attacker in the ground.
ReplyDelete"San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, Calif., 2/22/00
Awakened by noises at his back door early one morning, an 83-year-old San Francisco widower resolved to protect himself with a handgun purchased for exactly such an eventuality. As an intruder armed with a tire iron approached his bedroom, the elderly homeowner retrieved the gun and pulled the trigger for the first time in 30 years. Bought in 1948, the .38-cal. Smith & Wesson revolver had gone largely unused for more than half a century. It finally became the man's only hope of self-preservation, proving deadly reliable in a pinch. The shot ended the confrontation and the invader's life. The homeowner said later, 'I never thought I would kill another person. I just wanted to stay at home and mind my own business.' "
We in the training community often make firearms self defense sound like it's the equivalent of Grand Prix motor racing. The actuality, in the vast majority of cases for the Private Citizen, is that it's the equivalent of driving a golf cart.
While many many trainers are, or have been, formidable operators, very few of them are particularly good at being Intelligence Officers capable of doing Order of Battle or Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace. That's unfortunate and a big hole in spectrum of requisite skills for training others.
Most excellent, HH. Much appreciated.
DeleteCrime rate is increasing day by day and it become necessary that woman also know about how to protect their-selves. A good option is to have a pistol in the home for self defense and should take help of firearm instructor to learn shooting.
ReplyDelete___________________
MA Firearms Safety Course.