The Burden of Lies

Last night I determined it was time to come out to my sister about owning guns.  I asked her if she had some time because I wanted to talk to her so we sat down.  I made a flippant remark about there comes a time in every parent’s life when they have to have "the" talk.  She's my sister and I'm certainly not her parent so it's funny.  Then I turned it serious, I started out letting her know if she doesn't want to go to the range on Tuesday that she didn't have to, I don't want to push her to do this and she said she still wanted to go.  I asked her if we could go over some gun safety, range safety and functions of a gun.

I started out asking her if she remembered the four rules for guns that I had told her the other day, surprisingly she remember one so we went over that again.  I then explained that ranges have rules and they are usually similar from one range to another but they do vary.  I told her when we get to the range Tuesday and we are waiting for a lane; we will go over their range rules.  I explained to her that most important of all was she absolutely has to remember the gun must always be pointed down range, not matter what, if she has to turn around to talk to me, she needs to set it down and then turn around.  She said that's pretty logical and seems common sense but I explained that it does happen and it's easy enough to forget that.

I then brought out my .380, showed her it while it was still in the box, showed her all the functions, parts and the safety.  Showed her how to check if a gun was clear, wracking the slide, putting safety on and off, etc.  Then I asked her if she wanted to hold it, she was pretty reluctant but she knew she was eventually going to have to hold it.  So I showed her the proper way to pass a gun to another person, first check the chamber is clear and the magazine compartment is clear and told her that the receiver should do the same despite your doing so.  She was surprised how small it was and how it didn't really feel like a real gun and of course I had to take that moment to remind her (though obvious) it is definitely not a toy.  

I explained breathing control, trigger control and siting and then brought out the laserlyte target so she can actually practice these things.  She was really excited and thought the laserlyte was really fun, she asked me if I sit up here doing this a lot and I responded yes I do.  She then asked me, "So this isn't your friend's gun?" I told her no that this was my gun and apologized that I never told her. She actually didn't seem as mad as I thought she would be for my lying to her about it.  I also showed her the. .45, how it functions pretty much the same but was definitely a larger and heavier gun.  She tried it out on the laserlyte as well, she did really well with it, hitting the target dead on, and unfortunately the batteries were dying so the laserlyte didn't register the shots.

I took the time to show her the gun she will be shooting on Tuesday, the borrowed .22 and I pulled out rounds from each caliber so she could see the difference in sizes, she liked the small .22's, which obviously aren't as effective as the other two would be.

Over all the conversation went really well, I asked her if she had any questions or comments and asked how she felt about all this.  She said she actually felt a lot better because she now sees just how serious I am about gun safety and use and that they aren't just giddy toys of happiness.  I explained to her that when it comes to guns everyone should be serious about them because it's when you are not that accidents happen.  She does feel better about it all but is still a bit uncomfortable about having guns in the home, which I think over time that will change.

I doubt that she will get into guns as much as me, it would be totally awesome if she did, but I am so happy that we both feel better about the situation, that I no longer have to lie and I am so proud of her.  Proud that she was open minded and willing to listen and learn.  I am so happy that she made this so easy for me.