help with the wife

[USMCsergeant]

Unfortunately, my wife is one of those gals that thinks that firearms are dangerous and a waste of money. I own several, but take a lot of crap for it. It is extremely hard to acquire new ones as well. I have tried to get her to go shooting, but haven't had any luck actually getting her out there. Does anyone out there have any arguments or helpful ideas on how to get her more compliant? Thanks guys and I realize I am probably just SOL.

 

[CTS]

 

[Mark 1911]

So being a USMC Sarge doesn't get you any firearms credits with the wife?

Have you shown her the videos of the guys that march with the Garands?

Taking my wife to the range helped a lot. Also took her to a self defense pistol class. Now she's hooked!

 

[chezuki]

 

[kawtech87]

My sister in law was the same way when her and my brother were dating. She HATED guns and thought I was nuts. After a few years and persistence from my brother and myself we FINALLY got her to the range. She did not really warm up as much as we thought she would but it did give her a better understanding and eventually it led to her shooting some more. She still isn't totally pro-gun like we are, but she no longer has an irrational fear of them. She has even started talking about maybe one day buying one of her own. So she is starting to come around. It just takes time and patience and range time. She will see eventually.

 

[LEaSH]

How long you been in, err, I mean married?

 

[92ThoStro]

Tell you friend to stage a home invasion and when the wife says get your gun tell her you got rid of them and bought these nice whistles and.an air.horn

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Take her shooting, suppressed .22 on reactive targets. Link it to something she likes.

"Honey, if you go shooting with me, then we'll go to Brown County to see rhino's one man interpretative dance performance of Hits of the '80s."

 

[Sylvain]

Well first of all, firearms are dangerous, that's why we use them for combat.
But I guess she means dangerous for the user.
Have you told her about firearm safety, the 4 safety rules and all?

Maybe you can get her to go to the range if you are willing do something with her that you dont really wanna do.Like going shopping or something else that is boring for you.You do that then she owes you one.

Also you could probably find some INGO ladies who would be happy to take her shooting or just chat about women and guns.

 

[USMCsergeant]

8 years of marriage so far. Been trying everything to get her to go shooting. She hates them but has no reason to. Her dad and brother own shotguns but she keeps calling me a doomsday prepper and other funny things. She especially hates it when I carry. She wasn't like this prior to marriage. She wasn't outspoken, just indifferent.

 

[MrsGungho]

8 years of marriage so far. Been trying everything to get her to go shooting. She hates them but has no reason to. Her dad and brother own shotguns but she keeps calling me a doomsday prepper and other funny things. She especially hates it when I carry. She wasn't like this prior to marriage. She wasn't outspoken, just indifferent.

so now I have to ask, what changed since you got married? If she was indifferent before, I would think she still would be today. I honestly have no ideas right now. I will think though

 

[Sylvain]

so now I have to ask, what changed since you got married? If she was indifferent before, I would think she still would be today. I honestly have no ideas right now. I will think though

Maybe she watches TV where the media usually ridicule gun owners (besides military and police, who are heroes for owning guns) and if you own a single gun you are a crazy doomsday prepper.

 

[metaldog]

I feel your pain. My wife was anti-gun (and still is to a degree) when we got together (20+ yrs ago!). She always griped about the guns & badgered me to sell em. To be "agreeable", I did sell a few, but kept most. Her argument was always "Guns kill people". I carried a 1911A1 & remember un-holstering it during one of our arguements once. I set it on the dining table & calmly said, "Is THAT GUN hurting ANYONE?". She said "no". My comment to her was, "Thats right! That gun can lay there for 60 years, have a half inch of dust on it & wont hurt a soul. Until someone with malicious intent, picks it up, aims it at another being, and pulls the trigger."
We never argued about them again & I refused to give in, afterwards. NOW, after many years, she is ok with them. still doesnt much care for them, but know more about firearms than any anti-gun person I know.
My advice EDUCATE her, and stand your ground on your RIGHTS. Dont be a jerk, but be firm in your convictions. It will work out in time.

And good luck!

 

[KellyinAvon]

You have to stay the course and be patient. It's hard to overcome an emotional issue such as a fear of firearms. I will take a "significant emotional experience" (thank you Dr. Massey) to change her mind. A weirdo walking into the garage while she's getting out of the car? That's what changed my wife's views.

 

[Spike_351]

My advise is ignorant and probably the worst route to go. But you could always get a divorce? I couldn't handle some ridiculing me and labeling me as some sort of "nut" all the time. Its extremely disrespectful.

 

[copperhead-1911]

Unfortunately, my wife is one of those gals that thinks that firearms are dangerous and a waste of money. I own several, but take a lot of crap for it. It is extremely hard to acquire new ones as well. I have tried to get her to go shooting, but haven't had any luck actually getting her out there. Does anyone out there have any arguments or helpful ideas on how to get her more compliant? Thanks guys and I realize I am probably just SOL.

First thanks for your service.

On the wife.

I got my first gun ( other than daddy's shotgun I inherited) in 2010 after a shooting in our area. The wife used to be sort of anti-gun. It was ok for people to have them but why do people need them kind of stuff and she did not want us to have one. Well some thugs had a shooting right in front of our house and our car was hit. She would have been hit if she had been home 10 minutes earlier from church. Our car was hit instead. That week we bought our first guns. She thought we might go shooting "Twice a year" or so. Well until ammo got so high we went every week. Now we go every two or three and own several guns each and have a few permits from different states. She even thought about getting an ffl one day. Funny what thugs can do.

1, You can do the italian approach to her say "I'm the boss of this family". This does not always work and can result in things being withheld or grounding

2, You can tell her that if thugs riot there is a 100% gaurantee they would try to rape her and kill you. That wakes some up.

Good luck

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Lots of good advice here (well, except for maybe Spike_351's ), but the biggest takeaways are 1) Patience, 2) Education and 3) Patience. Did I mention Patience? I'm lucky in this regard. While DoggyMama doesn't really understand my "obsession" with firearms, she is very understanding (and patient) with me and my hobby. She likes shooting occasionally, but doesn't like shooting the heavy milsurp rifles. It's more of a weight issue than a recoil issue though.

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

Unfortunately, my wife is one of those gals that thinks that firearms are dangerous and a waste of money. I own several, but take a lot of crap for it. It is extremely hard to acquire new ones as well. I have tried to get her to go shooting, but haven't had any luck actually getting her out there. Does anyone out there have any arguments or helpful ideas on how to get her more compliant? Thanks guys and I realize I am probably just SOL.

This is a long shot but if you can get her to the range maybe she'd be having more fun shooting a target that's not a standard cross hairs. I've taken my lady to the range several times but I never saw her happier to shoot than when she got some "zombie" targets. She put it up and blasted away!

 

[Buck67]

My wife didn't care for guns when we first got married. Her parents had never had guns so she didn't see why I needed them. Through the years (44 now) she has come to learn that I am going to have guns and I am going to shoot them. Blackpowder guns got her interested in shooting. Now she has 3 muzzleloaders of her own that she shoots. As to me having more than one gun she doesn't complain anymore because I don't complain about her hobby of collecting antique dinner plates.

It just takes time and patience. 8 years is not a long time in a long term marriage. Remember it is a journey, not a trip.

 

[Tyler-The-Piker]

the unfortunate issue that I had to deal with was my wife's father's suicide (with a shotgun).
I've been with my wife for 17yrs and it has taken almost all of that time to get her to
realize various truths about gun ownership. the facts that there are more
responsible gun owner's than not, that it is safe to own and shoot them and
guns are not only used for misdeeds. Knowledge is power. Patience is key.
(some of the misconceptions that anti gun people have are astonishing)