Spending Valentines Day at the Range

So a few years back, my wife and I found someone to watch the kids for us on valentines day weekend and decided we wanted to actually do something together for the first time in a few years. After discussing it, we decided to go to the gun range! At this time, my wife had never shot a gun in her life and the thought made her very nervous.

We took my Ruger SR40 pistol and Colt M4 .22LR Rifle (pics below)

So once we got to the range, we went over the lane rules and we bought her some nice pretty pink ear protection and safety glasses. Once we got to our lane, she got really anxious and and started trying to back out saying she "didn't want to shoot" and "just wanted to watch me". I told her this was not acceptable because I needed her to know what to expect if she ever had to use one of the guns for protection. I can tell her all day long what to expect, however, until she pulls the trigger herself, she won't know what to really expect. This argument and the promise that if she still didn't want to shoot after going through the whole magazine, she could just watch won her over.

After showing her how the gun works and going over the 4 main rules of gun safety (listed below), she got in the lane and I helped her get a good solid stance and guided her through shooting through the first magazine. After that, she was hooked. The range we go to has a ladies night where ladies can rent a lane and firearm at no cost on Tuesdays from 4-8pm. She gets together with her friends a couple times a month and they go shooting.

Four rules of gun safety

1. Always treat the gun as if it is loaded.
2. Never point the gun at something you are not willing to kill or destroy.
3. Always know your target and what is behind it.
4. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.

Here is a video of her shooting the .22

Here is her target afterwards. Not bad for having never shot a gun before if I do say so myself.

Below are a couple other post on the topic of keeping children safe when guns are involved.

• Safely Storing Handguns with Children in the Home
• Teaching Your Kids to Shoot at the Range
• Responsible Gun Ownership and Parenting