My wife has "no opinion" on gun control.

[Nightwing]

She comes from a good conservative family. I love her parents. But over the last few years she's gone vegetarian and sort of harnesses a liberal mindset. She argues with my buddies that hunt that "they're killing themselves and increasing their chances of cancer with eating red meat, and they are idiots".
She argues the importance of Gun Control with me. She says "I'll do whatever the government tells me to do!" I say "Why not follow the constitution and follow the instruction of Thomas Jefferson, who saw these issues coming a long long time ago"? She says "That was then. This is now!"
Point is....any of you have this problem before? How did you get your Significant Other to see the light?
Got a real struggle on my hands. What does it take to get someone to open their eyes?

 

[esheato]

What does it take to get someone to open their eyes?

Unfortunately, a run in with a bad guy is all it takes. Mugging, rape, etc. will open a lot of peoples eyes to the positive side of firearm ownership.

 

[Nightwing]

^Wanna be that bad guy? haha

 

[esheato]

I edited my post and added the second sentence after you had already responded. I, in no way, wish to say that anyone deserves to be raped or mugged...however, that's usually what it takes.

 

[Walkalong]

If they can't see the light, they just can't see the light. It takes something to open their eyes, usually something bad. Hopefully it will be something in the paper or on the news and not a personal experience.

 

[atblis]

Easy

How did you get your Significant Other to see the light?

Find a new significant other. Sounds like you've found yourself a hippie moon bat in the making. Just wait till menopause. That'll be a riot.

EDIT:Forgot the smiley.

 

[Walkalong]

That was helpful, atblis.

 

[Eric F]

May I suggest a divorce lawyer? No not really just kidding My wife although not as extreme as yours in some what neutral on guns so long as they are not in her house(she bought it before we got married). I solved that issue easily enough.
It is always a rough situation when there is a disagreement like this with an established relationship. Sorta similar to a republican married to a Democrat. I resolved the issues with my wife through conversation and I built a "man house" in the back yard its like a mini apartment with out heat ok well other than the wood burning cook stove. It has a security system and this is where my guns are. It doubles as a guest house and my work shop.
As for you might I sugest that if sombody has made their mind up on somthing nothing you do will change it. Marrige is all about constant agreement or compromise if you can not do/live with either then divorce is the last solution.

 

[Nightwing]

Find a new significant other. Sounds like you've found yourself a hippie moon bat in the making. Just wait till menopause. That'll be a riot.

You sound like ALL of my friends (or the friends I have left after my wife has driven them off). The main problem.... 4 year old son! Can't just walk out on him!

 

[WSM MAGNUM]

She says "I'll do whatever the government tells me to do!"

You need to do something quick to change her thinking like that. That is a dangerous kind of mindset. She just needs to be educated more on the gun issues. Show her all the pro-gun materials you can find that will prove that the anti-gun issues are so wrong.

 

[Nightwing]

^ Tried. She won't have it!
She also refuses to vote because she believes that her vote has no power. Now granted I have a feeling that the President has a lot to do with "The powers that be" and even if the guy you want wins, he's still being made into a puppet of a bigger agenda! But point is... I still vote and pray that it's being taken seriously.

 

[PRazz]

"She argues with my buddies that hunt that "they're killing themselves and increasing their chances of cancer with eating red meat, and they are idiots"."

What are your buddies hunting, cows?

 

[American_Pit_Bull]

"She argues with my buddies that hunt that "they're killing themselves and increasing their chances of cancer with eating red meat, and they are idiots"."

What are your buddies hunting, cows?

"Red Meat" comes from other sources besides beef... Venison, elk, etc...

 

[Nightwing]

^ Exactly. They hunt mainly elk.

 

[v35]

Liberal you say? Have her watch this video.

"they're killing themselves and increasing their chances of cancer with eating red meat, and they are idiots".

Your chances of getting cancer increases with each year you cheat death and stay alive. Obviously you're an idiot for wanting to live longer.

Tortured logic to be sure, but it might just inspire her to converse vs. spewing out random accusations. Or at least research her arguments.

"I'll do whatever the government tells me to do!"

Whose government?

 

[Nightwing]

^ Is this going to get my slowly-become-a-liberal-fool wife to see a conservative viewpoint? I sure hope so. I bet she won't watch it, but we'll see! I'll try!

 

[22-rimfire]

We the People.... Maybe she needs to read the Constitution and perhaps study world history. I found the subject of history pretty boring when in college and high school other than US history. Knowing history allows you to try to not make the same mistakes. History does repeat itself.

I sympathize with your plight. I guess cooking up some venison is out of the question then? My wife does not like guns period. She does not want them around. Our solution is pretty much that the guns stay out of "her sight". Gun Control may be a big political issue for me. But she does understand freedom and we pretty much vote the same.

 

[yesit'sloaded]

Get another woman to talk to her. Somehow my girlfriend got my mother to look at it a different way after I had tried for years. My mom is ok with it now although she still says "I have too many guns". Considering that according to her I have too many cars and guitars as well I think that is a fine place for her to be. I even got her to shoot the Mosin over thanksgiving. My sisters still need work but it is more a matter of recoil. I have them up to a .22.

 

[dasmi]

She says "I'll do whatever the government tells me to do!"

That's one of the saddest things I've ever read. Seriously.

 

[romma]

Sometimes people just change, and believe what they want to. That's how it goes sometimes.

Who knows, maybe you'll get reason through to her though...

 

[The Weasel Squeezer]

Nightwing my friend, you have my condolences.
You say she refuses to vote. Maybe that is for the better considering the trajectory her mindset is taking.

 

[siglite]

I think the first thing that you need to do is shake her unwavering faith in government. There are a few incidents in history that should show her that her government is not infallible.

Research the Bonus Army with her.
Then research Randy Weaver.
Then research what really happened at Waco.

Do NOT present these incidents as some reason to rise up against the government or anything. Use them as tools to show that "doing whatever the government tells you" can be a terrible thing. After all, the SS were just doing what their government told them. But people today tend to view that time as a mythical evil that we, or our government is not, and would never be capable of. I personally would like to agree. But incidents like the above three items, will help to illustrate that sometimes reasonably good governments contort into fairly evil things for some pretty strange reasons to disinterested observers.

Once you've driven home that even OUR government is capable of doing some pretty bad things, you've chipped at half of the problem. The other half is the self defense issue. Offer to buy a rubber training knife. Ask her to conduct an exercise. Have her put a friend on speed dial. Preferably one who lives very nearby, and let them in on the drill. Put together any scenario you feel is appropriate, and won't alarm neighbors or get the police called thinking it's the real thing. You play the role of an attacker with the rubber knife. Her job is to use her phone or cell phone, and call this friend before you can do any "damage" with the training knife. The friend's job is to get there from someplace nearby (simulating the police) and prevent you from "doing any harm." Just wargaming this, and talking it through should illustrate to her that she has no chance of surviving an "encounter." But, if she's incredulous, actually have her try it. You could simplify it, and just get the average police response times for your area, and tell her that's the countdown. She'll lose every time.

If she decides to use non-lethal defense like pepper spray and stuff, then you should get to use a ranged weapon, too like an airsoft gun or something.

Actually running through these scenarios will illustrate so very clearly how futile relying on LE for "protection" really is. Sometimes, people have to run through a simulation for this driven home to them. How many of us have actually been through a 21 foot drill? I know that I, for one, was highly incredulous about that 21 foot rule. Until we simmed it up in a class. Wow. 21 feet gets closed *fast*.

 

[Pepper46]

She says "I'll do whatever the government tells me to do!"

There's a cliff over there.

Sorry to say, but she needs a reality check.
Yes, 4 yr olds do toss a monkey wrench in the mix.
Best of luck to you two, you're gonna need it.

 

[v35]

Vegetarian, eh?

I hope she doesn't wear leather. No leather shoes, belts, purses, etc. That means Fobus holsters for you. Ever take medication? Nearly every drug has been tested on animals. Getting a flu shot this year? Swine flu vaccine, for instance? Speaking of swine, hope she never needs a heart valve replacement.

Eat eggs? Cheese? Milk? Hehe. Put honey in your organic tea? Oh, the suffering!

How about fish? Reminds me of a former self-professed "vegan" coworker:

She: So what did you have for lunch? Dead animal?
Me: Yup. Bacon cheeseburger. It was delicious. What did you have?
She: (smug) Dolphin-free tuna, you murderer.
​

Next day:

She: So how was your carrion today?
Me. I tried something different. Tuna-free dolphin. It was delicious.
​

We had a nice aquarium at work. She liked it, all the pretty fishies. One day I brought a bag of feeder guppies for them. They went wild! She nearly had a coronary.

She: Stop that! Why don't you just feed them the flakes?
Me: (picking up can of fish flakes) You mean these?
She: Yes you murderer. Poor little guppies!
Me: (reading can of fish flakes) Ingredients: Fish!
​

Hope you don't have a cat. In addition to involuntarily imprisoning them, you have to feed it meat. Or it'll die.

Oh speaking of belts and shoes, what else does she wear? Better forget denim. Some time ago I did some work for a very popular brand name manufacturer of blue jeans. Adjacent to the manufacturing building was a rail siding with cars from Mopac. Why, I asked? Well, it seems that feeding all that cotton through high speed machinery requires lubrication, and since petroleum based lubricants don't wash out of the product well guess what they used. Animal tallow - specifically, pork fat! It washes out nice and odor-free. So if she's fond of jeans have her thank a dead pig.

No leather, no fur, no jeans. Hmmm. Go vegan - go naked!

You can have a lot of fun with vegetarians.

 

[antsi]

quote: "they're killing themselves and increasing their chances of cancer with eating red meat"

Most of the negative health effects of red meat are due to the adverse lipid profile. These are effects of domestication. Our livestock has the same problem many of us do: they eat a lot of corn based sugars and live a sedentary lifestyle. This is not true of most game meats. Deer has about the same lipid profile as eating Turkey.

Regarding your wife's other ridiculous beliefs, she sounds very silly but mostly harmless to me. If she were insisting you get rid of your guns or stop hunting, then you would have serious grounds for conflict. However, if she is just living in her own fantasy world where "fact" means "anything I consider pleasant to believe," I don't think that is necessarily a deal killer. As long as she's not inflicting her fantasy world on you, you should be fine.

I certainly would not encourage her to vote, because we elect enough of the kind of people she would support anyway.