Me and wife going to pistol safety course

[stargazer65]

^^^^^Sorry about the poor grammar in the title BTW, no way to change it!

My wife and I are taking the pistol safety course on Saturday evening. This is required in CT if you want a handgun. I've heard it's about two hours of classroom and then 2 hours of live fire. Everything's provided, including safety gear. It'll be a small class just us two and one other guy and the instructor.

This will be my wife's first time shooting ever. I don't mean just handguns either, she's never shot a long gun of any type either (unless you count a daisy) She's excited, but nervous as well.

Any suggestions to make her more comfortable and enjoy it more?

As far as clothes I told her not to have cleavage showing because of hot brass possibly flying. That struck her funny since she never shows cleavage outside of the bedroom. She hates pants, only wears skirts or dresses(long ones). I said it shouldn't be an issue wearing her jean skirt, it's not like we're going to tacti-school, just a basic safety course.
She said the instructor sounded nice on the phone, that's good. I was concerned we would end up getting a drill instructor type, and that might unnerve her. Since I'll be just another student I don't have to worry about the best way to teach anything.

[pax]

Honestly, it sounds as if you have just about the perfect intro for her: a small, personalized class; an instructor she sounds comfortable with; safety gear and an appropriate firearm selection for a beginner provided; and you, someone she loves, to provide moral support.

You did well to warn her about flying brass. Hopefully that won't be an issue anyway, given her usual clothing choices. One addition, though: if she wears a button down shirt, even if no cleavage is showing, have her button one button higher than she normally would. Button down shirts do seem to channel the brass a little more aggressively than even a lowcut scoop neck.

No worries about wearing her jean skirt. I've seen a surprising number of women wearing skirts and dresses even to more advanced firearms classes. (Not to mention the guy who wore a kilt all week in the LFI-2 class at FAS last week! )

Related to clothing, since she ordinarily wears a skirt, make sure she has closed-toe shoes on. Brass is just as attracted to landing between the toes as it is to landing between the cleavage. (Don't ask how I know this. Trust me, I know this...)

Try to provide lots of good moral support for your wife. Be a cheerleader for what she does, not just for how the target looks. At the same time, maintain enough distance to allow the instructor do do the instructing. Some guys find that really hard to do, esp if she turns to to him and says, "How do I ...?" -- but both of you will get more value from your instructor if you deflect those questions back to him instead of trying to tackle them yourself. (Forgive me for stating the obvious; it really doesn't sound as if you needed that point anyway.)

Slip some disposable foam earplugs into your pocket just in case the provided hearing protection turns out to be not quite enough.

Ask the instructor if he has any recommended reading material before class, and if so, make sure your wife has access to it beforehand. It'll help calm her jitters and allow her to walk into the class knowing just a little of the terminology.

And one more: make sure she isn't overtired or hungry when the class starts. Being tired or having low blood sugar can turn a challenging experience into an overwhelming one. Set her up for success by taking her out to dinner first ....

pax

[langenc]

Let the instructor do the talking. Dont butt in-he has the instructor license. Id expect he will cut you off should you offer any suggestion to the Mrs.

Congrats for getting a real instructor and not trying to teach her yourself-sounds like the law requires.

[isanchez2008]

What pax said. Oh yeah, be safe and have fun. I took my sister and girlfriend to a handgun basic safety course here in Washington and they did great. Don't be mad if she shoots better than you

[stargazer65]

pax said:

Try to provide lots of good moral support for your wife. Be a cheerleader for what she does, not just for how the target looks.

That advice would work well for any guy who is in this situation. This ended up being an ideal class. The instructor was friendly, humorous, and knowledgeable. Besides myself and the wife we just had one other student who was a good natured young man who had never shot before.

My wife has always been a pro gun person, but she has also been somewhat afraid of them. Some may think that only anti gun people can be afraid of guns, that is not so. Sometimes just the lack of knowledge causes the fear. Think about it, it's a device that makes a loud bang and can kill somebody. If you don't know much about the device, it should be frightening. The instructor did a good job changing my wifes unhealthy fear into healthy respect.

isanchez2008 said:

Don't be mad if she shoots better than you

That's what ended up happening. Not the mad part, I was actually glad. We shot at standard 50ft slow fire targets. She was the only one of us that hit the paper pretty much every time, we only counted one missed shot. Also more than a third of hers were in the black.

As for me and the other guy, well, I'll just say that the instructor told us to not feel too bad, "It takes practice" "You need some time to get the feel of a different gun" "Maybe I could let you guys shoot a youth model 22 rifle and put out a bigger target and you might hit it better, etc..."

It was a fun time for all.

[isanchez2008]

Good to hear all went well. Hopefully its the first of many fun times shooting for you two.