Reply #105: Why? (Please read and consider.) [View All]

My daughter started shooting at eight or nine years old. I would take her to the Tampa Police Pistol Range on a regular basis. She started off with a .22 bolt action rifle which I had cut the stock off so it was short enough that she could handle it. Eventually I bought a .22 cal S&W revolver that was small enough to fit her hands. Before she shot the weapon, I had her memorize all the names of the external parts and emphasized gun safety and proper handling.

She became an excellent shot. She graduated to shooting a much larger revolver, a S&W Model 25-2 45 acp. Weighing only 90 pounds and shooting a revolver the size of Dirty Harry's .44 mag, she did attract a lot of attention from the other shooters on the range. I have to admit she enjoyed this.

I always closely supervised her, but I was surprised when the range master paged me over the loudspeaker system to come to the office. He requested that I help a lady who wanted to learn to shoot. I mentioned that my daughter was on the firing line. He just laughed and said, "I would have never asked you if I thought she needed supervision."

Well one night when she was eighteen she arrived home. Alone in the house she set the burglar alarm and headed to bed. The alarm went off and she assumed that it was merely the wind shaking the sliding glass door in the kitchen. She walked into the living room and reset the alarm.

The second time that the alarm sounded several minutes later, she realized that it was not all that windy. She reached under her bed and obtained the S&W revolver that she had practiced with so much. This time she entered the kitchen to make sure the sliding glass door was tightly closed.

She encountered a man who was forcing the door open and was half way in. He told her that he planned to rape her not seeing the revolver she had at her side.

When she drew down on him he decided to leave in one big hurry. The sight of a young woman who was five foot two but was confidently pointing an enormous hand gun at him was enough for him to reconsider his intentions. (She didn't shoot him because I always told her to never shoot someone who was outside the house. He was only half way in.)

She called the police. When they arrived she went to our front door and told them that she had a revolver in her hand but couldn't release it. (Adrenaline often has strange side effects.) One officer told her to point the weapon at the floor with her finger off the trigger and open the door. This kind officer had her sit down on the couch and gently pried her fingers off the weapon.

The intruder was never caught and never returned.

I should mention that there was a 60 pound Labrador retriever in the house. She was one of the most gentle dogs I've ever owned and sometimes I suspect that being very intelligent, she realized that my daughter had a firearm and could take care of herself. Realistically, she hated loud noises and the alarm probably caused her to hide.

I don't attribute my daughters ability to handle the situation merely to the firearm training I had given her. She also had many years of training with one of the best judo instructors in the country. However, had she not be confident and proficient with the revolver, the intruder might well have entered and disarmed her with catastrophic results.

She received her training in judo and firearms at an early age. Thanks to my foresight, she now has two wonderful grandchildren for me to love and spoil. Of course, they also have been exposed to firearms and firearm safety and are very proficient with both handguns and rifles.

If children were never legally allowed to handle firearms and I followed the law to the letter, the result of my daughters incident might have been far different.