Loose lipped family members

[stevelyn]

Are you an adult?

Why should you even care what they think? Live your own life, not their's. And don't feel you need to justify your decisions to anyone else.

I'll tell family to go whizz up a rope about as fast as I would anyone else.

 

[Caimlas]

Fact and reason make you look guilty?

To someone who is approaching the question from an emotional vantage point? Yes, absolutely. It looks like you're trying to make excuses, because they do not understand facts or reason. Especially if you're their offspring, it just looks like you're a 12-year-old trying to explain why you put the baseball through Mr. Billing's window.

Everytime we have friends over,the discussion of me owning a gun scares them. Some have asked my wife: "You allow him to have it? Aren't you scared it may go off and hurt someone? Etc., etc".

That's happened a couple times with us. It's funny, because my wife has a concealed permit, too. She just chuckles and either diffuses a volatile social situation (hey, I don't back down from my guns in any sense of the word, even when they're guests ), or she comes forward and says something about her having a concealed permit, too. "What, you think I could defend myself and my kids while carrying an 8-month-old? What if there's a dog?" - it usually dissuades them a bit, because arguing the safety of a woman's children with her is something most people seem unable to do.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

"Loose lips sink ships."

Why would you expect a family member to be any different from anyone else? My brother and sister don't know that I have carry permits in several states, and although my brother knows (I think) that I one a .22 rifle, I don't think he knows I have a handgun and that I carry it.

We don't live in the same house so he doesn't need to know. When I die, he'll open the sealed envelope and that will tell him how to open the secure storage area and what to do with the guns (if he survives the shock of being exposed to an "arsenal").*





* "Arsenal" - n. More than one firearm

 

[Wayne02]

I will tell the people I think need to know

So the people that truely need to know are, you, and exactly who else again??

 

[BBQJOE]

I think a funeral situation was probably not the best setting for such a discussion to begin with......................

Just drop the whole matter. Discussing it with your brother and telling him to keep his mouth shut can only add to the fire or his feelings that you are in the wrong.

If it ever comes up again, change the subject without missing a beat.

 

[DMK]

The emotional person would answer, "What? NO! Are you crazy? Kill somebody? I can't believe you'd even think that about me... I think I'm going to cry..." To a logical person, it sounds like a phony show of hysterics to dodge the question.

The rational person might answer, "If I planned to kill someone, do you think I would fill out a form 4473 and get my name added--illegally, I might add--to a federal database, and apply for a government-issued carry permit that involves giving the police my fingerprints, so they'd have an easier time catching me?" To an emotional person, that sounds like a bunch of slick talk to dodge the question.

Hmm.

I just realized why I have no patience at all with dramatic people.

 

[expvideo]

My 6 year old brother knows better than to talk about it. He's mentioned it to me a couple of times, and I've driven it home that it's a private subject. He's a great kid.

 

[busy_squirrel]

A few months ago my mother mentioned at a family reunion that I carry my gun EVERYWHERE now that I have my CPL. The men mostly accept guns as tools and so they remained silent, waiting to see where the gals would go with the convesation.

When I got a frown from grandma, I simply lifted my coat and showed I was not carrying, and explained it was in my car when I came into their house.

That won a few "fear-monger" gals to my side knowing that I was respectful AND treated guns as matter of fact.

Than my aunt jumps in with: "But why do you need a SEMI-AUTOMATIC" rifle?

Recognizing this as an education issue, I explained that semiautos only go bang once for each trigger pull, and simply reload the chamber after each shot.

Since she had been misindoctrinated by the media, she realized that it wasn't a machine gun and simply said "Oh."

I was a little tense after having to defend myself in a "public situation" like that (where I'm forced to play to a group as opposed to addressing the issue individually using appropriate strategy), but it gets easier with time, and simply being calm and informative goes along ways.