Help with wife

[chewy555]

Well, things seem to be looking better for me with my wife. She seems to be more open to me carrying. I met her for dinner last night, and I took the little .25 that we have. As we were about to order, the waiter told us about what happened at lunch. They had someone in there that was caseing that they think was going to rob the place. After the waiter left, she asked me if I had a gun on me. To which I told her yes, and it did not make her upset. I am not sure what changed her mind, but just little steps. I will work on being able to carry something bigger. But for now it is a start.

[anygunanywhere]

You two need to give your handguns "pet names".

Kim, Smitty, Wes....

Better than "DO you have your gun?"

Anygun

[stevie_d_64]

You two need to give your handguns "pet names".

Kim, Smitty, Wes....

Better than "DO you have your gun?"

Anygun

Clever!

[Venus Pax]

Well, things seem to be looking better for me with my wife. She seems to be more open to me carrying. I met her for dinner last night, and I took the little .25 that we have. As we were about to order, the waiter told us about what happened at lunch. They had someone in there that was caseing that they think was going to rob the place. After the waiter left, she asked me if I had a gun on me. To which I told her yes, and it did not make her upset. I am not sure what changed her mind, but just little steps. I will work on being able to carry something bigger. But for now it is a start.

This was a perfect scenario. The threat was just enough to get her thinking.

[chewy555]

You two need to give your handguns "pet names".

Kim, Smitty, Wes....

Better than "DO you have your gun?"

Anygun

I was thinking the same thing. I have tried this in the past, but she was not big on it, because she did not want me to carry. But now that she is more open to me carrying, I will bring it up again.

[chewy555]

This was a perfect scenario. The threat was just enough to get her thinking.

You are right, and since this is one of her fav. places to eat, then I am sure that it will keep her thinking.

[lonewolf]

Before agreeing to marry me, my current spouse asked roughly 85 million questions. Some were repeated, I think, just to see if my answers changed. That being said, there was nothing in there about firearms. I never thought to bring it up, because it was never an issue for me. I have had guns for years. I had found during my separtion/divorce from my first wife, however, that it wasn't practical. I sold them to pay some bills she had accrued. When I told my wife I wanted to buy a gun (6 years ago), she didn't want "that thing" in our house. That has been resolved with patience.

Oops, my bad...I forgot I had an old .22 single shot bolt action rifle. She knew about that one, but I had no ammo, and she made me keep the bolt out of it and stored somewhere else. I almost forgot where I put it at one point.

Anyhow, back to the topic...we met with an uncle of mine that has more guns than there are bricks in my home and we wanted to go out and do some shooting. She shot one round of 9mm. The bullet went that-a-way, and she jumped up and held the gun out to the side, still pointing downrange, as I had instructed her, and said "Take this thing away from me!" These days she is much better and understands much more. MUCH more. Now there are 4 guns. The old .22, an old .38 Colt Police Positive Special, a Mossberg 500 shotgun and a Beretta 92G Centaurian. I have taken both my sons to the range and had them clean them all afterwards. The wife has shot more as well. The Beretta stays in the nightstand (open front type) right next to me. I won't say where the others are, but they are all accessible in need. They are secured when the kids are here.

Now I have applied for my CHL. Now when we are going out, and she is concerned about our safety, she asks if my friend is coming along for the ride. Since I don't have my CHL yet, it is in the glovebox.

[joe817]

Good grief lonewolf! You get the archaeologist award for digging up a 2 year old thread!

Over time, I trust your wife will become accustomed to your firearms....and your CHL. Good luck to you!

[USA1]

She shot one round of 9mm. The bullet went that-a-way, and she jumped up and held the gun out to the side, still pointing downrange, as I had instructed her, and said "Take this thing away from me!"

that's hilarious , i can just picture that

[lonewolf]

It was all I could do not to laugh my rear off.....since we were out in the country, we didn't have any hearing protection so we didn't shoot but a few rounds. I think it was the sound as much as anything that scared her. A few weeks later we went to the range and she put two whole magazines through it. Quite a gal, my wife. Now every time she sees the gun, she asks if its loaded. I told her to presume its always loaded, whether or not it is. Safety first.

On a side note, she is actually the one that mentioned getting a gun a year or so ago. At the same time the economy was tanking, there were lots of home invasions and such making the news. She asked if we should get a gun. My response was, "lets go shopping!" That was when the Beretta joined our family. Shortly after that came the Mossberg. My father had some major health issues and moved in with us, donating his ancient Colt .38 Police Positive Special. Now the family is very well filled out.

As far as being an archeologist, I've probably searched through most every page of every forum on here over the last few months. Very good stuff here. Kind of voyeuristic, I suppose, but its been very enlightening. It's been most interesting to see the wife's turnaround from her liberal, northern upbringing and education to a more realistic point of view. My next task will be to work with the sister and brother in law when we are up in Kansas visiting. My wife, bless her little heart, told them I am applying for my CHL while we were visiting them a couple of weeks ago. They weren't shocked, but weren't pleased, either.

[joe817]

I think you are taking the right approach and it's working. Slow baby steps as I put it. It would be overwhelming to her to introduce her with everything at once. Keep up the good work!

[lonewolf]

I still have some of the 20mm shells from my Navy years. To show her the difference in what I shot then and now own, I fit a couple of shotgun shells into one of them and put a pile of 9mm in another. Neat!

[stevie_d_64]

After careful and careless thought, I have deduced that it is just plain wiser to just ignore the wife, and proceed with carrying, and hope she figures it all out before she finds out where I hid the cast iron pans, kitchen cutlery and car keys...

[joe817]

After careful and careless thought, I have deduced that it is just plain wiser to just ignore the wife, and proceed with carrying, and hope she figures it all out before she finds out where I hid the cast iron pans, kitchen cutlery and car keys...

You are a brave man stevie_d. Not to bright, but awfully brave.

J/K!!

[lonewolf]

IGNORE THE WIFE?????!!!!! Good luck with that..........

Please feel free to let us know how that works out for you. If you can......

It took a lot of time and patience for me to get my wife to understand what I was doing, then some more for her to support it. We had occassions to meet like-minded people, folks she respects, that she never suspected were 2A supporters and she began to see the light. She no longer jumps out of her skin at the mention of a gun, or the fact that there is always one near me when at home. I didn't flood her with news stories and such, but did point out a few home invasions and such now and then. She is more aware of her surroundings than ever, and has asked me several times when we have been out if I am prepared should it be needed.

My two cents, if worth that much is to give it some time. Tell her you can't bear the thought of some bad guy coming between you two. You love her too much for that. You'll defend her any way you can. The gun scares her, not you. The only gun that should ever scare her should not be in your hands. She'll learn that with time and patience. Hopefully.

Anyhow, best of luck in your current situation, and I sincerely hope everything works out for the both of you.