Having spent 17+ years in martial arts, for years, I figured I could teach my wife anything she needed to know about self defense. Now that I'm older, I think that my initial assessment of how to handle any self-defense situation without knowledge of gun use is very short-sighted. My wife and I spent our first five years of marriage in Houston, TX, specifically, the relatively lavish and low-crime area of League City/Clear Lake. I was teaching karate in the city and she was working in housekeeping in the local area. All of the necessities of live were in arm's reach, and we had two very large and intimidating dogs that lived in the house with us and our two children.
Granted, I had attempted, on numerous occasions, to get my wife into my martial arts classes. Every try to teach a spouse how to fight? It ain't happenin'. Her calling me "sir" in class didn't go over too well either.....
Anyway, our lives changed drastically (different story) and we wound up back in Baton Rouge as of last June (I'm from here, anyway....my wife is from Scott). Fortunately, we were both blessed with good jobs soon after we returned home. Now, I work in North Baton Rouge off of Plank (yes, I keep my Taurus with me...ha, ha), and my wife works at a local grocery store. Recently, she was promoted into management (and yes, I'm bragging about here), which, of course, gives her more access to money in the store. She's also now being asked to sometimes travel to other stores between Baton Rouge and Lafayette. I started reading the writing on the wall. Now my wife does also carry other "basic" self defense weapons like a punch-knife on her heychain and a small bottle of pepper spray (which is tested regularly); but when she was asked to travel a bit, I sat her down and asked her to consider gun owenrship for self-defense. Fortunately, she embraced the idea.
Was that idea based on my own paranoia? No. I think it's based on my experience. Any good martial arts instructor worth his or her salt knows the weapons of the time. My wife may never express enough interest in hand to hand combat to train as extensively as I have; but she needs something that can stop someone, and not just **** them off. My wife and I came home to a very different Baton Rouge, with a much higher crime rate. The fact that she now owns, practices, and is going for her CCL makes me (and her) feel much, much safer. In a self defense situation, my gun is a last resort. I bought her one to make sure that in her line of work, she has a better chance of coming home to her family should anything bad happen.
My kids will learn next. Chalk us up as another proud, American, God-fearing, gun-owning family.
Boozer
Granted, I had attempted, on numerous occasions, to get my wife into my martial arts classes. Every try to teach a spouse how to fight? It ain't happenin'. Her calling me "sir" in class didn't go over too well either.....
Anyway, our lives changed drastically (different story) and we wound up back in Baton Rouge as of last June (I'm from here, anyway....my wife is from Scott). Fortunately, we were both blessed with good jobs soon after we returned home. Now, I work in North Baton Rouge off of Plank (yes, I keep my Taurus with me...ha, ha), and my wife works at a local grocery store. Recently, she was promoted into management (and yes, I'm bragging about here), which, of course, gives her more access to money in the store. She's also now being asked to sometimes travel to other stores between Baton Rouge and Lafayette. I started reading the writing on the wall. Now my wife does also carry other "basic" self defense weapons like a punch-knife on her heychain and a small bottle of pepper spray (which is tested regularly); but when she was asked to travel a bit, I sat her down and asked her to consider gun owenrship for self-defense. Fortunately, she embraced the idea.
Was that idea based on my own paranoia? No. I think it's based on my experience. Any good martial arts instructor worth his or her salt knows the weapons of the time. My wife may never express enough interest in hand to hand combat to train as extensively as I have; but she needs something that can stop someone, and not just **** them off. My wife and I came home to a very different Baton Rouge, with a much higher crime rate. The fact that she now owns, practices, and is going for her CCL makes me (and her) feel much, much safer. In a self defense situation, my gun is a last resort. I bought her one to make sure that in her line of work, she has a better chance of coming home to her family should anything bad happen.
My kids will learn next. Chalk us up as another proud, American, God-fearing, gun-owning family.
Boozer
. Joking aside, I would feel more comfortable if my girlfriend embraced learning to shoot defensively. It's a bad idea in my book for an untrained person to handle a firearm in a high stress situation.
