gbran ~
That's a good point.
However, if you can find one range that rents firearms, you're in good shape. It's worth driving quite a ways to get that chance, too.
Even in the most limited rental shop, it will generally be possible to sample at least one revolver in .38 and/or .357, at least one 1911-pattern gun in .45 ACP, at least one Glock or Glock-type gun in 9mm, at least one Sig-type gun in .40. There will often (not always) be an opportunity to rent some kind of .380 as well.
That gives you a very general introduction to the feel of different platforms and the recoil from different calibers ... and provides a fairly solid foundation upon which to build when the newcomer begins handling for-sale firearms that cannot be test fired. She'll understand better the trade offs between weight and recoil control, and she'll have a more natural understanding of where her finger is supposed to fit on the trigger when she measures the gun in her hand, after she's handled a few guns in different platforms and calibers. This is essential knowledge that will help her a lot in her hunt, even if none of the guns she shoots during her exploration are the specific model she ends up buying.
Newcomers to the handgun world need information. They need to learn stuff like how to handle a firearm safely, what the laws are that govern the use of a gun, how to load/unload the gun, how to care for the gun. They need to learn stuff like why to choose one gun rather than another for defense, and they need to do some significant soul-searching to discover if armed self-defense is right for them -- if it fits within their ethical, religious, and moral paradigms.
None of this can be simply handed to them on a silver platter, together with a gift-wrapped gun.
The newcomer has to seek the knowledge out for herself, and internalize it.
Friends can make this knowledge-seeking process a bit easier, but (this is important) friends cannot simply learn what the newcomer needs to know. The newcomer is the one who needs that knowledge, not the helpful friend. The most the friends can really do is gather resources and point the newcomer in the right direction so that her process of learning what she needs to learn is as painless as possible.
When someone steps in and does all the research, narrowing down all her choices, and then presents the newcomer with a very narrow and strictly-limited set of guns to choose from, he robs the newcomer of some very important baby steps along her personal journey to self-defense. Maybe she'll overcome this handicap, or maybe she won't -- but it IS a handicap.
So the new shooter, or the prospective new shooter, needs information and encouragement. She doesn't need someone standing over her robbing her of her confidence by overtly saying or even just implying that she is too weak, too non-mechanical, too incompetent, too ... whatever ... to learn what she needs to know. She doesn't really need spoon-feeding, but she does need someone to show her where the food is and to hand her the spoon. And she really doesn't need someone to offer her a choice only between Gun A and Gun B, leaving her, in her still-ignorant state, to choose between the two based solely on whichever one looks "cute" to her eye. Listening to a woman choose a gun based solely on the cute factor is a red-flag signal that her helpful, gun-knowledgeable friend has failed her.
So ... don't "narrow" the choices for her, k? Instead, seek out a wide variety of guns that might be suitable, and let her do the narrowing herself. Don't limit her to just revolvers or just semi-autos. Don't limit her to just DAOs, to just DA/SA, to just SA, to just striker-fired. Don't limit her to one caliber, either. Instead, find a good example of each type and discuss with her the pros and cons of each type as she handles it and checks out its fit in her hand. Let her do her own narrowing as she learns. Discuss ammunition choices with her too. As you do that, she'll be learning what she needs to learn and you'll be helping her internalize the resolve she will need if she is going to defend herself with a firearm.
pax
That's a good point.
However, if you can find one range that rents firearms, you're in good shape. It's worth driving quite a ways to get that chance, too.
Even in the most limited rental shop, it will generally be possible to sample at least one revolver in .38 and/or .357, at least one 1911-pattern gun in .45 ACP, at least one Glock or Glock-type gun in 9mm, at least one Sig-type gun in .40. There will often (not always) be an opportunity to rent some kind of .380 as well.
That gives you a very general introduction to the feel of different platforms and the recoil from different calibers ... and provides a fairly solid foundation upon which to build when the newcomer begins handling for-sale firearms that cannot be test fired. She'll understand better the trade offs between weight and recoil control, and she'll have a more natural understanding of where her finger is supposed to fit on the trigger when she measures the gun in her hand, after she's handled a few guns in different platforms and calibers. This is essential knowledge that will help her a lot in her hunt, even if none of the guns she shoots during her exploration are the specific model she ends up buying.
Newcomers to the handgun world need information. They need to learn stuff like how to handle a firearm safely, what the laws are that govern the use of a gun, how to load/unload the gun, how to care for the gun. They need to learn stuff like why to choose one gun rather than another for defense, and they need to do some significant soul-searching to discover if armed self-defense is right for them -- if it fits within their ethical, religious, and moral paradigms.
None of this can be simply handed to them on a silver platter, together with a gift-wrapped gun.
The newcomer has to seek the knowledge out for herself, and internalize it.
Friends can make this knowledge-seeking process a bit easier, but (this is important) friends cannot simply learn what the newcomer needs to know. The newcomer is the one who needs that knowledge, not the helpful friend. The most the friends can really do is gather resources and point the newcomer in the right direction so that her process of learning what she needs to learn is as painless as possible.
When someone steps in and does all the research, narrowing down all her choices, and then presents the newcomer with a very narrow and strictly-limited set of guns to choose from, he robs the newcomer of some very important baby steps along her personal journey to self-defense. Maybe she'll overcome this handicap, or maybe she won't -- but it IS a handicap.
So the new shooter, or the prospective new shooter, needs information and encouragement. She doesn't need someone standing over her robbing her of her confidence by overtly saying or even just implying that she is too weak, too non-mechanical, too incompetent, too ... whatever ... to learn what she needs to know. She doesn't really need spoon-feeding, but she does need someone to show her where the food is and to hand her the spoon. And she really doesn't need someone to offer her a choice only between Gun A and Gun B, leaving her, in her still-ignorant state, to choose between the two based solely on whichever one looks "cute" to her eye. Listening to a woman choose a gun based solely on the cute factor is a red-flag signal that her helpful, gun-knowledgeable friend has failed her.
So ... don't "narrow" the choices for her, k? Instead, seek out a wide variety of guns that might be suitable, and let her do the narrowing herself. Don't limit her to just revolvers or just semi-autos. Don't limit her to just DAOs, to just DA/SA, to just SA, to just striker-fired. Don't limit her to one caliber, either. Instead, find a good example of each type and discuss with her the pros and cons of each type as she handles it and checks out its fit in her hand. Let her do her own narrowing as she learns. Discuss ammunition choices with her too. As you do that, she'll be learning what she needs to learn and you'll be helping her internalize the resolve she will need if she is going to defend herself with a firearm.
pax
