The first order of business is to remind friends and family that the Second Amendment is still in the Constitution of the United States, contrary to what some elites would like us to believe.
And the Second Amendment was not put into the Constitution by the Founders merely to allow us to intimidate burglars. The right to keep and bear arms derives from our duty to retain the basic means necessary to defend our country, our liberty, and to resist tyranny, if necessary--something that is very difficult to do if the government has all the weapons.
This is not to say that defending against personal dangers was not an anticipated use for arms, particularly on the frontier. But these things are not the fundamental purpose of the Amendment.
Certainly it is true that the actual defense of our national borders is normally delegated to the professional military. But we, the people, are ultimately responsible for the defense of country and liberty, and the Second Amendment is crucial to our performance of that duty.
Excellent summation. I think this is a core problem in much of the gun owning community as well as the general population. Many have lost sight of the original point of the 2A and think they need to justify their weaponry based on it's usefulness for hunting or "self defense", meaning defense from criminal citizens. Those are only secondary benefits and I think that needs to be recognized more often.
As far as helping folks, particularly women, get over their fear of weapons, I think a big part of it is starting gently. By that I mean, don't hand her a 12 guage or .30-06 the first time out, don't get frustrated when she keeps putting the stock under her arm to aim, speak quietly, don't laugh etc. The other thing to remember is that most women don't do all that well learning this stuff from their husband or boyfriend, at least to start with. IMO, an all female beginner class is the way to go.