I'm finally making some headway with my parents convincing them to get their CCWs. It's that "we've always wanted to do, but we don't have the money for guns." I solved that problem by buying them both a handgun a couple years ago, but excuses kept coming. Granted, in California it is expensive to get a license. In our county it's almost $300 before they will issue the first time permit.
What finally is bringing them around is three separate incidents that we were involved/nearly involved in during the past six weeks.
First was a carjacking in the Wal-Mart parking lot in the same row we were parked. Fortunately we were in the store at the time, but law enforcement was just arriving as we stepped out the door.
Second was a gang related thing down from our church a couple of weeks ago. I don't know too many details other than two dudes started throwing lead across the road at each other about two blocks away as we were leaving morning service.
The last one was today as we were leaving father's day dinner at IHOP. Some dude with "that look" was pacing around the parking lot, and as we were leaving he came toward us. He asked for change, but we didn't give him any and he got aggressive. Long story short, we talked him down without having to resort to violence, but that was the final straw.
As I write this, my dad is searching for the next available ccw courses in the area. He has a S&W Shield 9 that we've done some drills with, and all he needs is more practice to be "acceptable." He understands the manual of arms, malfunctioning clearing, reloads, etc, he just needs to work on speed and efficiency. But don't we all?
My mom is a slightly different story. First off, finding her a gun was quite an endeavor. She walked into the gun store with her heart set on a Glock 27 - until she got her hands on one. She couldn't operate the slide. She went through every gun the store had in stock that day without finding anything she liked except a Smith 617. I brought her back a week later when the store had some new stuff in stock and tried again. This time we had some more luck, walking away with a few options to consider. We were able to whittle it down to an LCR 38 and a Bersa Firestorm 380. She eventually settled on the 380 because it's prettier than the LCR, and she could work the slide. Woo hoo, happy meal.
Fast forward two ish years, and she still requires an instructional course every time we go to the range. "Yes mom, that's the safety. Yes, it's supposed to drop the hammer. This is the mag release. This is the slide release." Etc. She's put around 400 rounds through it, and is pretty good at the DA/SA transition and all that, she just requires instructions every darn time we take it out. That and the fact that she seems to have more trouble working the slide now than she did two years ago have me worried.
On the one hand, I know more training would *probably* solve most of the problem, but I have to face the truth that she isn't getting any younger. If she has trouble working the slide now, where will she be in 10 years? I almost feel like a revolver would work better.
On the other hand, a 5 shot snubbie 38 might be hard for her to deal with, too. Grip strength to handle the recoil of a decent SD load, the stiffer DA trigger, less accurate sights, less capacity (granted, the Firestorm is a 7+1 380cap, so not giving up much firepower, but every little bit helps).
Then again, most of the confrontations she would be involved in as a woman will be close range, so the idea of a "get off me gun" that just goes bang every time is also appealing.
So where I'm going with this is that i need help deciding what direction i want to advise her. My gut says to get a revolver just for the simplicity, but my mind keeps going over the scenarios where those extra 2 rounds would make the difference. I also keep having the idea of what if the 380 jams, or doesn't lock open on the last round when it's time to reload and she can't pull the slide. (I know a revolver can have troubles too, but it's less likely that a bullet will jump crimp or a part will break than a semi auto short stroking because you're rolling around with Joe Badguy)
There's also the point that concealing a gun will be a totally new concept to her, so where she ends up keeping it will be a problem. My suspicion is that it will either end up in a bra holster or pocket holster, so keep that in mind.
I need some third party opinions that aren't influenced by manufacturer sponsorship, or dogmatic "G19 is the only gun worth owning" religion. Ideas please.
Helping my mom with CCW
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