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Wife should talk with husband about fear of guns
Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^
| 2/13/06
| Joyce Brothers
Posted on 02/13/2006 8:50:39 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Monday, February 13, 2006
Wife should talk with husband about fear of guns
By DR. JOYCE BROTHERS
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
DEAR DR. BROTHERS: I recently moved to a new area of the country, in which it is very common for households to have a rifle or handgun for hunting or personal protection. I have never had any exposure to weapons at all and have always been very frightened of them. Yet around here, children are routinely taught to hunt, with a healthy respect for but no fear of guns. Anyway, my husband brought one home after I reluctantly agreed (we do have a problem with predatory wild animals at our new farm), but I find myself being very nervous about just having it. I would never want to use it. Is this strong a reaction normal? -- D.K.
DEAR D.K.: I would say that it is quite normal and even smart to be afraid of any dangerous weapon that could kill you or a member of your family. It could even make for a very unpleasant situation should the victim be a predator in your yard and you have to see it dispatched. There is almost no upside to having a gun if you aren't a gun lover, and you shouldn't have to live with this creepy feeling indefinitely.
That said, I think you need to sit down with your husband and discuss all this. He needs to be able to tell you how he feels about having -- and possibly using -- the gun. Did he buy the gun mainly to minimize discord in the new neighborhood -- in other words, to fit in? Does he have any background or training in gun use and gun safety? Was he ever in the military? And do you agree that you really need it? If so, take some lessons and do some skeet shooting so that you can gain some mastery and lessen your fears. Keep the gun locked up, of course, and keep that fear at a healthy level. After all, they are deadly. If you still feel terrified after taking these steps, I suggest that you surrender your weapon.
TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 2dopey4words; banglist; ohbrother
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To: kiriath_jearim
Didn't "Dr" Brothers' husband kill himself with a gun?
To: elmer fudd
I feel a lot more nervous when I use a chainsaw than when I use a gun. I know more people that have been hurt with chainsaws (three) than have been shot (none). My nextdoor neighbor makes me nervous just to watch him with a chainsaw...he cuts any which way he wants, including from the ground up. Amazed that he hasn't killed himself yet.
102
posted on
02/13/2006 2:13:23 PM PST
by
wbill
To: dead
I'm only half weird. Pizza is terrible as a meal!
103
posted on
02/13/2006 4:22:53 PM PST
by
B4Ranch
(No expiration date is on the Oath to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic.)
To: Joe Brower
"A gun that will make your average dumbed-down, brainwashed, pathetic, hand-wringing, gun-fearing whiner pee their diaper:"
That describes two out of three of the guys recording at my place last night. I brought a rifle in and set it up on the reloading bench and I've never seen fear like that in the face of grown men at the sight of a firearm.
I later told my friend who was engineering the session and who does a little shooting with me now and then that they need to rename their group "The Wussies", or, something like that. :-)
104
posted on
02/13/2006 7:41:17 PM PST
by
planekT
(<- http://www.wadejacoby.com/pedro/ ->)
Comment #105 Removed by Moderator
To: kiriath_jearim
"D.K." needs to grow up. Only children are frightened of inanimate objects. What Dr. Joyce needs probably involves surgery.
106
posted on
02/15/2006 8:28:47 PM PST
by
Redcloak
("Shiny... Let's be bad guys.")
To: basil
she is just another 'steenkin liberal' but she makes money with it and some a--h---- believe her BS--don't hold your breath waiting for the courtesy of an answer----
To: glock rocks; humblegunner; Eaker; TEXASPROUD; razorback-bert; Tijeras_Slim; Horatio Gates; SLB; ...
Dear Dr Brothers..... I can hardly wait till your birth certificate is a worthless document.
Luv Squantos.....
108
posted on
02/15/2006 8:44:55 PM PST
by
Squantos
(Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
To: Squantos
The lady will go out skeet shooting and range shooting a few times with ehr hubby and probably love it. Then she'll be buying her own and she and her husband will be teaching their kids. Ahhh, the makings of another good American...hehehe.
Perhaps Dr. Borthers should give it a try himself.
109
posted on
02/15/2006 8:54:44 PM PST
by
Jeff Head
(www.dragonsfuryseries.com)
To: Squantos
For some reason I find this funny
Top Ten Least Popular Shows On The Discovery Channel
10. "Squirrels -- Satan's Secret Army!"
9. "Mummified!: The Makeup Techniques Of Joan Rivers"
8. "Exploring The Titanic With The Lens Cap On"
7. "When Animals Can't Digest Doritos"
6. "Hector, The Gay Manatee"
5. "The Myth of the Female Orgasm"
4. "Wildflowers of the Antarctic: We Got There, There Weren't Any, But We Made A Show About It Anyway"
3. "Ancient Mysteries: Why Is Dr. Joyce Brothers Famous?"
2. "National Geographic's Stark Naked Fat Guys At The Beach"
1. "Stuff That Was Too Boring For PBS"
To: Squantos
Subtle - yet to the point.
To: kiriath_jearim
Did he buy the gun mainly to minimize discord in the new neighborhood -- in other words, to fit in? I'm speechless that a person could be this out of touch with reality. I'm guessing Dr.Brothers has never spent a nano second in flyover country.
112
posted on
02/15/2006 11:27:26 PM PST
by
bad company
(There is no devil but Allah, and Mohammed is his porkchop.)
To: Squantos
Dr Brothers, Dear Abby and all the rest (to include some of the so called conservatives on talk radio or with published news commentary columns) are at least a part of the problem leading to the "metro-man" who is afraid of his own shadow.
113
posted on
02/16/2006 2:03:41 AM PST
by
SLB
("We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us." C. S. Lewis)
To: Squantos
I had no idea that Dr. Brothers was such a brainless idiot. Sheesh. Skeet shooting? What if the man of the house bought an M-1A? :-)
If she thinks she's terrified now, just wait until they win the "home invasion lottery" and Mr. Man has to shoot up some badguys with the scary, terrifying gun that he brought home.
I know a guy who went out and bought an STG-58 (FN-FAL) because he liked mine. I knew his wife was going to blow a fuse when he did. But he bought the rifle, and a bunch-o-magazines, and a bunch-o-ammo. A couple of days later, I asked him how she was taking it and he said he wasn't quite sure yet. He said he had a long talk with her about bad people who like to do things like fly big airplanes into tall buildings and how he really didn't give a crap what she thought about his "evil" assault rifle, and that she'd have to just get over it.
After it soaked in, she actually felt better that her husband was man enough to take responsibilty of the security of his house....and even told him this!
...surrender your weapon...?
Never surrender your weapon! NEVER!
Incidentally, I read this out loud to the wife and kids before leaving the house this morning for work, and they laughed out loud. ;-)
114
posted on
02/16/2006 10:17:39 AM PST
by
hiredhand
(My kitty disappeared. NOT the rifle!)
To: Squantos
I've got a minute before everybody gets back from lunch and I have to git a move on....but this brings up something I was telling my buddy (Freeper Subatomicdust) this morning.
One Saturday, we were having a 4-H meeting at the house. My wife's a 4-H leader. About 10 people and their kids were there. About half of them were from the county out and around us. The rest were from the "burbs" and just wanted to learn more about critters and farm life. It's a good thing and we've seen people learn a lot! We've met a LOT of really great people too!
Anyway...my girl comes running in and excitedly announces, "Daddy! Daddy! There's a strange dog down the hill near the goats!". I turned quickly to my 10 yr old and told him to get me a rifle NOW please!
He ran to his room and grabbed his, and plugged a 30 round magazine into it and handed it to me in the kitchen amongst everybody.
Before I even got out the door, I heard gasping, and saw hands cover mouths, and eyes get big, and people move up against the counters in the kitchen as if to get away from the vile object which I held in my hands. I noticed, but I had something important to attend to, so I got out the door as quick as I could with my girl close behind.
The rifle is an Eagle/Armalite E15A2B (A-2, AR-15). He's got a stubby stock (for his short little arms), a vertical grip, a quad rail mount in place of the barrel shrouds, and a Beamshot 2000 laser with a remote switch. He's very good with that rifle!
She told me where the dog had been and we looked and went down the hill and poked around the fence. I couldn't find anything, and we came back to the house.
When I came back into the house, I knew I'd have to confront the panicked women in my kitchen. I unloaded the rifle on the back porch and took the mag out of it....locked the bolt open (it's HOUSE RULES!) and walked in. They were still terrified and looked quite uneasy. My wife asked what happened, and I told her. One of the "farm ladies" tilted her head to get a better view of the AR which I was holding by the rear stock, muzzle down, and she said, "That's pretty nice. We've been thinking of getting something like that for critter control out on our property." I said that they were O.K. rifles for the price and that the best thing about them (excluding my own personal opinions of the .223 Rem) was that EVERYBODY in the house could use them! The fact that this particular rifle was the property of my 10 yr old was testimony to that!
But the urban moms were still standing there, speechless...some clutching their top collars with their hands, and still backed up against the counter tops in the kitchen there.
I handed the rifle back to my son, who checked inside the open breech before letting the bolt go forward, and thanking me. I turned to them and said that unfortunately, predators are just a fact of life. Killing them is something you just need to be prepared for, and that although it's not pleasant, it is necessary. Plus, if you're going to serious about dealing with "predators", it helps a LOT to have decent "hardware", which is why we bought those rifles.
At this point, one got up the courage to speak and said, "You've got TWO of those things?!". I told her that we did indeed have two of them. In fact, everybody in the house had a suitable centerfire semi-auto rifle.
...don't you know it but a few of those people didn't come back! ;-)
115
posted on
02/16/2006 11:42:28 AM PST
by
hiredhand
(My kitty disappeared. NOT the rifle!)
To: Dead Corpse
"Most of the irrational fear of firearms comes from inexperience. The #1 suggestion for anyone new to firearms should ALWAYS be a firearms safety and familiarization course."Agreed.
To: kiriath_jearim
He needs to be able to tell you how he feels about having -- and possibly using -- the gun.Memo to Dr. B.:
Men don't "feel" about guns. We "think" about guns......a lot.
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