Ruger Forum

dangrd · October 7th, 2012, 07:31 PM

I was originally thinking you should get your brother in law a 22 rifle but then an evil part of my mind was thinking that if he's so interested in assault weapons and military rifles especially the AK maybe you should get him the original Russian military rifle - a Mosin Nagant.

Let him shoot a bolt action with iron sights with that powerful cartridge and a metal butt plate...

Best of all, the gun is cheap, the ammo is cheap, the boom is big.

Yiogo · October 7th, 2012, 08:14 PM

My poor wife too. She's afraid of guns. I keep mine locked in a safe with no windows for prying eyes. I am completely honest with her about my gun purchases. Where you really honest with your wife? Seems like you just didn't want to deal with it and she may have sensed that. I think I sensed it too and was she may have been hurt. Nevertheless, I would mention to the young man in passing what an assault rifle really is and its negative connotation. Same with a sniper rifle. I would not do it in an angry way. Just in a non threatening, matter of fact manner. Also, I would not mention to him, unless he asks, that your wife called you. That will just make him feel badly for no reason. The real issue is how your wife feels about guns and her reason for calling you...the real reason. It had nothing to do with the youngster IMHO. I can't help you with your wife's attitudes re firearms. Got my hands full also so you are not alone. Same here she's ok with them because she sees how relaxing they are to me and sees how much I enjoy them. She knows when I am buying one and I show it to her and thank her. When I come home from the range after shooting it for the first time. I let her know how much I enjoyed shooting it. Incidentally, she is pleased that firearms have given me an avenue to spend time with my daughters ( 31 years and 35 years old) who love to shoot. Best to you. Yiogo

Tater · October 8th, 2012, 03:29 AM

Take him hunting.

Specs · October 8th, 2012, 03:40 AM

Not sure if I read this correctly, but it seemed that the wife was checking up on her husband's purchase after he told her about it. Did she really call some kid to find out if an RR is an "assault rifle"? This looks like a trust problem on three sides to me. No offense intended.

VietVet68 · October 8th, 2012, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heymatthew

Let me start by saying that I love my wife more than anything. And I'm also honest with her. I don't hide anything at all. Even Christmas presents. But that's another story...

Her little brother does his school online and she goes over a few times a week to make sure he's doing what he's supposed to be doing and help him with his studies. He's 13 and a huge fan of guns and knives and hatchets. Anything battle or weapons-related. When he's not doing school work (which only occupies 6 hours a day or less) he's on his PS3 playing Call of Duty or Battlefield 3. My wife, on the other hand, hates guns and doesn't want anything to do with them. She doesn't even like them being in the house, but she loves me and knows it's my hobby and she tolerates it.

Anyway, I sold an O/U shotgun to my mom and dad recently and she said, "Are you going to buy another gun with the money?" I said, "Not sure yet, but probably." That was the whole conversation. A week or two later, I brought home a Mini 14 and put it in the gun cabinet. I didn't say anything about it, but not out of lack of honesty. I figured she knew that I'd bring something home to replace the O/U at some point and she doesn't care to discuss the gun thing.

Well... The other day at work, I get this text message, "Did you get a new gun?" Immediately followed by, "A semi-automatic assault rifle?" I said, "Nope, I got a ranch rifle, says so right on the gun. Nothing 'assault' about it."

That led to a phone call. Uh oh... Apparently, my 13-year-old shooting buddy and brother-in-law, decided to tell my wife (and he knows she HATES guns, especially the "black rifles") that I had picked up an assault rifle. His stupid little 13-year-old brain sees a Mini 14 as an assault rifle. A family friend let him shoot a Savage .270 Deer Rifle and referred to it as a "sniper rifle" which it is not. He's in fantasy land.

So... I think I'm going to have a little talk with him about using certain terms to describe guns. Especially when dealing with non-gun people. I'd like him to know that guns are a delicate subject in my house and that the government was not completely on our side either and that he should be more delicate with his terminology. For instance, the .270 Savage was a hunting rifle, not a "sniper rifle" and the Mini 14 is just a rifle, not an "assault rifle." He referred to my BX-25 for the 10/22 as a "cool, hi-capacity banana clip." I think he's living in video game land, although he's very safe with firearms and I'm teaching him a lot about firearm safety when we shoot (that's my primary concern with him is safety).

Am I out of line here? Help me out guys. He's my shooting buddy, but he blows things way out of proportion. Is this a phase or something I should address? I don't have kids of my own, but I'm 15 years his senior and he looks up to me. I like him a lot and don't want to flub things up.

Any parents out there that would care to chime in? Or other big brothers? Or just general advice from uncles, cousins and relatives?

You may not agree with what I'm going to say about this but here goes, DO NOT TALK TO HIM, YOUR WIFE, or anyone else about it.
I'm a father of two sons and have three grandsons (20, 18 & 15) and I can reiterate what you already know, he's a 13 year old who doesn't know how to process info correctly yet. He's immature & just maybe he just doesn't like you & wants you to be in hot water.
Trust me---you can't make this better by talking, you will only dig a deeper hole for yourself. Be patient, because at some time in the future you'll probably get the chance, from your wife, to explain how manufacturers market their products by using key phrases like "assault rifle" to entice teen aged boys to learn more about them & turn them into customers at a later date.
Females, generally speaking, are just naturally opposed to weapons. Why? Because they associate them with war and then they connect that dot to the possibility their son may have to go to war, get killed & then they'll blame themselves for his death for the rest of her life. This is what's likely going through your wifes mind.
You can't win in this situation, my advice is to smile, say nothing & wait for the right time.
Oh, & BTW, wether you know it or not, your wife WILL make you accountable for every penny you spend. You don't know it yet but your money is her money & her money is her money.

heymatthew · October 8th, 2012, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VietVet68

You may not agree with what I'm going to say about this but here goes, DO NOT TALK TO HIM, YOUR WIFE, or anyone else about it.
I'm a father of two sons and have three grandsons (20, 18 & 15) and I can reiterate what you already know, he's a 13 year old who doesn't know how to process info correctly yet. He's immature & just maybe he just doesn't like you & wants you to be in hot water.
Trust me---you can't make this better by talking, you will only dig a deeper hole for yourself. Be patient, because at some time in the future you'll probably get the chance, from your wife, to explain how manufacturers market their products by using key phrases like "assault rifle" to entice teen aged boys to learn more about them & turn them into customers at a later date.
Females, generally speaking, are just naturally opposed to weapons. Why? Because they associate them with war and then they connect that dot to the possibility their son may have to go to war, get killed & then they'll blame themselves for his death for the rest of her life. This is what's likely going through your wifes mind.
You can't win in this situation, my advice is to smile, say nothing & wait for the right time.
Oh, & BTW, wether you know it or not, your wife WILL make you accountable for every penny you spend. You don't know it yet but your money is her money & her money is her money.

Geeze man. You act like you've done this before... HAHA! Thanks for the advice. I already talked to my wife and told her all about the gun and that he was blowing it way out of proportion. She said that he does that a lot with my guns as a way to push her buttons. I guess he's just being a pesky little brother. He knows she has no interest in guns and is not interested in shooting. He also knows that she's nervous about guns so I think the more intimidating he can make a gun sound the more it gets her riled up. I mean, she's 28 and he's 13 so there's a big age difference there.

I do want him to back off about how he talks to her about guns, though. I guess I'll just have to wait until the right time and casually mention that he needs to be careful about his terminology.

This reminds me of a gun show I was at a few months ago in my town. A man was talking to a woman at one of the booths. I was waiting on her to ring out some magazines for my 10/22 and he said something about a gun being an assault rifle. She jumped on him fairly quickly and told him to mind his tone and language. I think she called it a sporting rifle or something like that. Either way, she wasn't amused by his casual use of the word "assault" and she let him know it quickly. Not in a mean way, just in a matter-of-fact way. He understood and they ended up having a laugh about it.

Maybe I'll wait until he refers to my Mini as the "Assault Rifle" and I'll correct him gently.

heymatthew · October 8th, 2012, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Specs

Not sure if I read this correctly, but it seemed that the wife was checking up on her husband's purchase after he told her about it. Did she really call some kid to find out if an RR is an "assault rifle"? This looks like a trust problem on three sides to me. No offense intended.

Nah... She's her step-brother's home school learning coach (teacher). I had bought the Mini with some money from a shotgun. I told her I'd probably get something with the money, but didn't say anything else about it. I bought the Mini, brought it home and stuck it in the safe. I wasn't hiding it (I know that's what it seems like).

When she was over doing his school stuff, he asked if she had seen my new gun. She said, "No." He said, "Yeah, it's a semi-automatic assault rifle." And proceeded to harp on it and make it seem like I had brought home some kind of anti-aircraft, fully automatic, vehicle-mounted machine gun apparently.

He does it to get under her skin. That's the part I have a problem with. It's not a trust thing. It's that he knows she hates guns so he messes with her about it to get under her skin, because that's what little brothers do. What he doesn't realize is that in the process, he's shutting her down to guns even more than she already is and I'm the one that pays the price for it when I want to buy something new or pick up some ammo while we're out and about doing our shopping and what not.

That's the thing I want to discuss with him. I guess he needs a lesson in tact and subtlety as much as he needs a lesson in firearms.

Mayor Al · October 8th, 2012, 12:35 PM

Hey Matt,
I got a "One-Up" on ya...My grandson did not bring girl friends (9th Grade types) to our home during his year here. He went out to the mvies or arcades, but did not entertain here at 'home'. Mainly because we established the ground rules for social life when he arrived, and one was no girls in the house without one of us grandparents home...His choice not ours as to the results.

So now he is back with his Mother... Last week he brought a girl-friend home to meet Mama, While there, Mama made a Walmart run for an hour or so, and returned home to trip over the kids on the living room floor, minus most clothing. Mama called my wife (her mother) to describe, in detail the event and ask how we handled it when he did that to us??? She was not happy when we said we would not have allowed the kids to stay home alone....hehehehe I love it when SOME Kind of a plan works.

Relax, You'll get your paybacks on the kid someday !!! (Grin)

heymatthew · October 8th, 2012, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mayor Al

Hey Matt,
I got a "One-Up" on ya...My grandson did not bring girl friends (9th Grade types) to our home during his year here. He went out to the mvies or arcades, but did not entertain here at 'home'. Mainly because we established the ground rules for social life when he arrived, and one was no girls in the house without one of us grandparents home...His choice not ours as to the results.

So now he is back with his Mother... Last week he brought a girl-friend home to meet Mama, While there, Mama made a Walmart run for an hour or so, and returned home to trip over the kids on the living room floor, minus most clothing. Mama called my wife (her mother) to describe, in detail the event and ask how we handled it when he did that to us??? She was not happy when we said we would not have allowed the kids to stay home alone....hehehehe I love it when SOME Kind of a plan works.

Relax, You'll get your paybacks on the kid someday !!! (Grin)

Well, as long as I don't find him laying in the floor with my Mini 14 and no clothes on, everything will be alright. Haha! I probably got busted with a girl a time or two. Not THAT bad, but bad enough that dad had a talk with me. My parents had the same rules as you, though. No girls when they aren't home and when we were in my room watching TV or movies, the door stayed open and the lights were on. I think my mom used the phrase, "I'm not running a cat house" one time. Love my mom!

Troubador222 · October 8th, 2012, 07:15 PM

My wife is not thrilled that I have guns again, though now I have talked to her a lot about gun safety, with them in the house, she has calmed down quite a bit. I keep trying to get her to go shooting with me. And that is the problem. I learned to shoot with a 22 which my dad bought me when I was about 9 or 10. My dad was a marine, and he drove the safety rules into me, which I had to learn to recite back to him, before I ever got the 22. )One thing I am glad of is, I did have the chance to pass that on to my son. But one day I did acquiesce to my wife and sold the guns I had. Long story, but it involved stress on her from work related things. At the time I had no problems, but i was also a lot younger, and we lived in a place where things were not as wild.

You know, kids are going to be kids with the way they talk to their peers. Communication is the key. Same with our wives. I am still plugging to try and get my wife to go to the range with me. Hope one day we can.