Giving up on Mother in Law

[2A2Dend]

Edit: YES - This is sarcasm!

So is this
We need a Dislike button!!

JOE!!

 

[Joe13]

Not on my game today

Going thru parental issues myself so I feel for the OP lol.

 

[Larrytpdx]

You can lead a Mother-in-Law to water, but . . .

 

[2A2Dend]

My MOI, she's a great lady. Ornery as all get out, and stubborn. Hehe

 

[Larrytpdx]

My MOI, she's a great lady. Ornery as all get out, and stubborn. Hehe

But can she shoot?

 

[2A2Dend]

No irons. Verbally, she's the best shot in the family!!
I'm lucky to be alive and still married to her youngest daughter. Sailors mouth. Yep. Good thing she don't do any sippin, Idda been slain long ago!!

 

[Doc In UPlace]

Having a gun and not be willing to train with it and worse, not being willing and able to use it is such a huge mistake.

Many a person played the bet that they wouldn't cover, bluffing, and have lost their lives as a result. Their opponents weren't bluffing.

One of the things I see every week in my work as an investigator is how many people we deal with have no idea what reality actually is. They see life as a second-rate version of TV or movies. They really do. It's almost unbelievable.

 

[Ura-Ki]

! I feel the OP's situation, for these types of people, I recommend getting a Labrador Retriever! Better at preventing a break in then any other security system available!

 

[whiskeybill]

A good friends wife decided she needed some self defense items (at least she was thinking rationally there) so she went out and bought a hand held taser. When she showed it to me, I just said "Your heart is in the right place, but that thing is useless. You do NOT want an assailant to get within arms reach of you. Get a pistol or pepper spray". She now carries both. And she took self defense classes.

 

[best defense]

I am with the guys who say leave her to her own devises. If she wants a shotgun, she can go buy one as easily as you can. Not that wasp spray cannot be effective.

 

[PaulB47]

You've done all that could be expected, and more. Leave her be now. Some people just don't like being pushed...

 

[dude23]

Just my opinion but, I don't think a lot of training is necessary for basic home defense. If someone is interested in training that's great. If they just want a simple reliable weapon to deal with a possible intruder a shotgun or revolver is a good choice. Some low pressure target practice and some common sense safety advise is a good start to get them interested in shooting. JMHO as a non tactical guy.

While as a general statement this is true, it's a recipe for ND's or possibly killing someone not intended to be shot. As with any tool, if you're going to own a gun you need to be able to safely use it. Just like you wouldn't buy a chainsaw and leave it in the box until the second a tree falls on your house before you learn to use it.

From the sound of it she's never shot before and doesn't know safe handling practices. So she's probably not a good candidate for responsible ownership.

"Educated" people think because they see or hear about "hicks" using guns to hunt, etc., and they're stupid, it'll be a piece of cake for someone as smart as they are (As they proceed to pickup a loaded weapon, waving it around, muzzle checking everyone in the room three or four times, before they do their best Rambo impression).

 

[Joe13]

My MIL is crazy and keeps a hand held crossbow that shoots sharpened pencils next to her bed.

Beat that....

 

[Larrytpdx]

My MIL is crazy and keeps a hand held crossbow that shoots sharpened pencils next to her bed.

Smart Lady! No firearm/ammo registration required!

 

[I594 Sucks]

And these are the kind of people we gun owners often feel a responsibility to defend, if they're attacked in our presence. I'm getting to the point where I will hide and fight, if necessary, but crossing the parking lot to help my anti-gun co-workers is becoming less and less likely...especially when knowing I'd probably get fired for violating our workplace policy.

 

[Joe13]

Smart Lady! No firearm/ammo registration required!

Far from smart but that was funny.

She'd be the person to use it and put someone's eye out then get sued and loose her house type of person.

We don't speak anymore for good reasons

 

[David Bowman]

Last summer there was a rash of gang shootings and break-ins around my Mother-in-laws neighborhood. She is 65 and retired, while her new, younger pacifist husband still works. Since then I have offered to: come over with unloaded firearms so they could check them out; take her to the BiMart gun counter; pay for a firearms safety course; pay for a women's only dry fire SIRT pistol season a few blocks from her house; pay for a Women on Target class and of course to take her to the range myself. I even bought a 22LR Single Action Army replica and some 22shorts for her first shots.

Every time I offered something she came up with some excuse to not go, but still wants a shotgun or a revolver just in case. So I finally figured out that she really only wants a Talisman to feel protected, but flatly refuses to put any time or effort into training. A recipe for disaster. So I told her that "I am out. She is not ready for responsible firearm ownership". Now she is giving my wife the silent treatment.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Silent treatment rocks... Allows me to do so many other things without worrying about anyone talking to me.

Two things are important here:
1) Guns are not magic talismans that ward off evil.
2) Hope is not a plan.

I hear all the time the time honored myth that "you just rack that shotgun little lady and those bad guys will scatter fer' sure" WRONG!!! Bad guys are pretty used to having good guys point guns at them and cycle the action. If she wants a talisman, buy her an alarm system.

Hoping the burglars and gang bangers won't get around to her because she has her magic talisman is foolish.

You have done all you can. If she can't realize you are trying to help her, then you just have to let it go.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

My MIL was crazy as a road lizard! We haven't spoken for years, because she's DEAD!









My MIL!

 

[NWGlockgal]

she said that she keeps a can of wasp spray by the front door.

Something she absolutely should not do....at least not to use on anything other than wasps. It's not effective and there could be legal issues using it for defensive purposes.

http://articles.extension.org/pages...sp-spray-is-not-a-substitute-for-pepper-spray

 

[Joe13]

Yea, I'd rather have blowback from pepper spray in my face then whatever is in those wasp sprays.