Insight Help

[Middle Age Russ]

Man was raised in a South Texas ranching family. Has multiple guns of his own, hunts, fishes, etc. Not the type of guy one would think wouldn't want his wife to own her own gun and know how to use it. I told her perhaps he was afraid she would shoot him.

No way of knowing for certain from where I sit, but some fellows are intimidated by things they don't understand well. This man was raised in the hunting culture, not necessarily the gun culture. He may have little/no experience with handguns at all, though he would seem familiar with long arms. If this is the case, some way will need to be found to get him past the irrational fear of the unknown where handguns (and particularly using them to protect oneself) are concerned.

[ES4Me]

Thank you gentlemen for your input. Many of you have said you think this is a control issue and that there are other issues at play here and I think you are right. I have felt on more than one occasion that my friend's husband is controlling and irrational. She has done some things lately which he has not approved, so I was hoping she would just jump in and do this without his approval.

FWIW - my husband has offered to talk to him - she said that would be the worst thing that could happen. She has another friend whose hubby is retired LEO. He tried to talk to this man to no avail.

Was hoping perhaps the collective wisdom of this list could give me some additional advice to give her, but I guess one cannot reason with a brick wall.

[seamusTX]

More charitably, maybe he is genuinely concerned about her ability to use a gun for self-defense. Maybe he is afraid that it is more likely she will use it inappropriately, or in a way that gets her into trouble, than she will use it in a legitimate act of self-defense.

Now that we know the lady is at least around 40 years old, this should not be a factor.

I heard of men, back in the day, who didn't want their wife to get a driver license for similar psychological reasons.

- Jim