Oh no... my mother is one of "them"

[BrassMonkey]

Just let em see it one day and bring it up. Produce your license, get ready for a lecture and be done with it.

Worst case, they say they do nto want it in their house, you now have more free time on your hands :-)

[NguyenVanDon]

Thanks fellas for the advice. Anymore advice would be great...

Kauboy, I'm going to do what your doing also. Just gonna test the waters and not tell them yet. It's harder for me because I'm Asian. Most Asian families are anti-gun and its hard to change their views. I guess I just play it slowly for now and later on when they sort of find out I've been carrying, they would know that I am responsible X number of years. God forbids if someone pulls a knife, gun, or any weapon on me anytime soon. I don't wanna shoot anyone and my parents finds out I killed a person. They might disown me for awhile.

[seamusTX]

This kind of thing is very individual. Some people will feel betrayed if you reveal that you have been secretly doing something that they disapprove of. Parents often don't want to see their kids grow up, and make issues out of the choice of college, first car purchase, engagement, marriage, etc.

Others may just roll their eyes and accommodate it.

- Jim

[NguyenVanDon]

This kind of thing is very individual. Some people will feel betrayed if you reveal that you have been secretly doing something that they disapprove of. Parents often don't want to see their kids grow up, and make issues out of the choice of college, first car purchase, engagement, marriage, etc.

Others may just roll their eyes and accommodate it.

- Jim

Yeah I know, but I would like to catch everyone's advice on this though. I'm very open about this, especially when it's easier to talk on here with people with past experience. I know I'm not the only one out there that has this problem.

[Venus Pax]

I have both types in my family. Most of my family members aren't completely anti-gun, they just think its a bad idea to carry one.

During the summer, I had an incident with my sister (step). She and her husband were extremely upset when I showed them my gun. (yes, I kept it on my hip in the holster.) I learned then and there to feel people out before revealing anything. (In fact, she stealthily reclaims her baby from me once she sees that another relative has passed him off. I guess my gun is going to jump out of the holster and bite him.)

I'm wanting to take Mom to the range and show her how to shoot her 9mm. Unfortunately, step-dad doesn't want her going without him. It doesn't look like she'll make it there anytime soon. She seems to like the idea that I carry. When we took a trip during the summer together, my step-dad was worried because he or my husband weren't with us and we were "vulnerable." Mom was quick to remind him that I carry an equilizer. I still want her to get a CHL of her own.

Dad, on the other hand, is my cheerleader. We go on dates to the gun range together. One uncle thinks I was wise to get a CHL, then talked my aunt into getting her CHL. The other uncle thinks we're paranoid.

I think the idea of letting them find out on their own after you've lived responsibly with it for awhile is your best method of warming them up to the idea.

[NguyenVanDon]

I have both types in my family. Most of my family members aren't completely anti-gun, they just think its a bad idea to carry one.

During the summer, I had an incident with my sister (step). She and her husband were extremely upset when I showed them my gun. (yes, I kept it on my hip in the holster.) I learned then and there to feel people out before revealing anything. (In fact, she stealthily reclaims her baby from me once she sees that another relative has passed him off. I guess my gun is going to jump out of the holster and bite him.)

I'm wanting to take Mom to the range and show her how to shoot her 9mm. Unfortunately, step-dad doesn't want her going without him. It doesn't look like she'll make it there anytime soon. She seems to like the idea that I carry. When we took a trip during the summer together, my step-dad was worried because he or my husband weren't with us and we were "vulnerable." Mom was quick to remind him that I carry an equilizer. I still want her to get a CHL of her own.

Dad, on the other hand, is my cheerleader. We go on dates to the gun range together. One uncle thinks I was wise to get a CHL, then talked my aunt into getting her CHL. The other uncle thinks we're paranoid.

I think the idea of letting them find out on their own after you've lived responsibly with it for awhile is your best method of warming them up to the idea.

An advice and past experience from a female clears up my situation better. Thanks Venus, I will take the advice to heart. I guess when the time comes and for them to know, so be it. For now it stays quiet until they find out how responsible I am.

[gigag04]

Stevie -

My mom is WAY more pro than my dad. My pops has too much cali in him now.

My mom is still living enough out in the country where she loves the idea.

[NcongruNt]

Thanks fellas for the advice. Anymore advice would be great...

Kauboy, I'm going to do what your doing also. Just gonna test the waters and not tell them yet. It's harder for me because I'm Asian. Most Asian families are anti-gun and its hard to change their views. I guess I just play it slowly for now and later on when they sort of find out I've been carrying, they would know that I am responsible X number of years. God forbids if someone pulls a knife, gun, or any weapon on me anytime soon. I don't wanna shoot anyone and my parents finds out I killed a person. They might disown me for awhile.

I'm guessing from your name that you and your parents are Vietnamese. I can understand the stigma that goes with guns for Vietnamese people of your parents' generation. Lots of terrible things happened using guns in Vietnam during their lifetimes. Such experiences can motivate someone to take an extremely irrational stance against the ownership of guns. My older sister was shocked and appalled that my dad had gone and bought himself a 357 revolver for self-defense. Her attitude probably stems from the fact that our mother was murdered with a gun. I'm working on her slowly, and I think she'll eventually come around.

I think the most important thing is practical exposure to the idea that guns aren't just killing machines only used by criminals to murder innocent people. I wouldn't have called myself an anti, but up until about 7 months ago, I would have said (and did say) I would never have any interest in carrying or owning a gun beyond a shotgun for occasional (maybe once every 5 years) bird hunting. What changed my mind, you ask? I have been planning a long wilderness backpacking trip through Alaska, and naturally needed some sort of bear defense weapon. I started looking into suitable revolvers for such a situation, and met a former range/gun shop owner at my regular coffee shop hangout. He started educating me about guns, and talked about the practicalities of what I was looking at (a Taurus Model 444 UltraLite .44 Magnum Revolver). He said it would be more practical given the terrain and precision needed to incapacitate a bear to use a rifle of some sort. So I started looking into buying one, "so I could get good with it" before my trip. I bought a Mosin-Nagant M44 and a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 - they were such a good deal that I had to get one of each. Then I got the fever, and started really getting into rifle shooting. I bought my first pistol shortly thereafter, and took the CHL course about a month later, and here I am! What got my mind working on the idea of having a gun in the first place was something practical - a need to defend myself against a bear attack in the wilderness. Once my foot was in the door, the rest just kinda happened.

[NguyenVanDon]

My parents were born in Vietnam, and both of my parents have been through the Vietnam War. My dad fought for the South Vietnamese Navy to defend off the Vietcong. Soon after the war ended, my dad was shipped to the US in the early 70's and was sponsor by an American family that lived in Boston. Soon after he got his citizenship, he packed his bags and moved to Texas where he met my mom. My mom was already here before my dad about a year. Both of my parents speak fluent English and Vietnamese.


As of today, my dad works for Harris County as a Phone System Technician and my mom is a Pre-K School teacher at Cy-Fair ISD. Both of my parents been through the war and they have seen what guns can do to people. It's hard to change their views, but like I said before, I'm just going to play it slow for now. Until the time is right, they will know and understand.

[nitrogen]

...

As of today, my dad works for Harris County as a Phone System Technician and my mom is a Pre-K School teacher at Cy-Fair ISD. Both of my parents been through the war and they have seen what guns can do to people. It's hard to change their views, but like I said before, I'm just going to play it slow for now. Until the time is right, they will know and understand.

See, this was one of my personal reasons for "getting into" guns and learning about them.

While guns are indeed a tool of opression, they are also a tool of freedom. One of my favorite examples is what a band if poorly trained and unarmed ancestors of mine did in Warsaw, back when the Nazis were trying to round them up to Treblinka:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising

Granted, the end result was still the same, but imagine what they could have done with decent training and familiarity with firearms...

In the end they made it extremely costly for the Nazis. Imagine what could have happened if this type of resistance popped up in more places?

[KBCraig]

While guns are indeed a tool of opression, they are also a tool of freedom. One of my favorite examples is what a band if poorly trained and unarmed ancestors of mine did in Warsaw, back when the Nazis were trying to round them up to Treblinka:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising

I don't recall if it was the '43 or '44 uprising, but I watched a documentary that drove home the point: use the tools you have, to get the tools you need. The resistance fighters would smile politely in passing, then quickly turn and use a single revolver round to the back of the head to secure whatever a German soldier was carrying.

And they didn't limit themselves to guns: a soldier patrolling down a sidewalk could find a wire noose dropped over his head from the 2nd floor, and quickly hoisted up to dangle. This forced them to patrol in the streets, where they were subject to sniper fire.

[GrannyGlock]

My 88 yo mother wants to be in my first class, so hope I pass!

My husband was afraid she might be too frail to rack the slide or pull the trigger but she has proven both of those not to be the case.

She will probably never carry a gun, but if she will carry a license, she will be an additional statistic of 85-90 female in her zipcode with a license and I think that makees quite a statement.

She is also honorably discharged WWII Marine! I think she was waiting for the right price.

[Venus Pax]

My parents were born in Vietnam, and both of my parents have been through the Vietnam War. My dad fought for the South Vietnamese Navy to defend off the Vietcong. Soon after the war ended, my dad was shipped to the US in the early 70's and was sponsor by an American family that lived in Boston. Soon after he got his citizenship, he packed his bags and moved to Texas where he met my mom. My mom was already here before my dad about a year. Both of my parents speak fluent English and Vietnamese.

There is a reason they believe the way they do. I've learned that the way a person lives life says more than words could ever.
When my dad was growing up, "the man worked and the woman stayed home." When my husband graduated from college, my dad made the comment that I didn't need to finish, as my husband could support me. (The women's movement missed him.) At the time, I gave him an ear-full. But I kept working and going to school, and I graduated three years later. My dad was at my graduation and asked to "hold" my college diploma, because he'd "never held one of those before." He's made other comments that have let me know that he is glad I finished college. (For starters, he is making plans for my baby sister to attend college... something that would have never happened ten years ago.) I think the fact that I simply went through with it, and went on to join an admirable profession changed his mind.

If anything will change your parents' minds, it will be your honorable character that accompanies your handgun everywhere you go.