Should I learn to shoot a gun & get a concealed weapon?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m 25 years old, female (last I checked :wink: ), and plan to be single for a while.

I don’t ever envision myself to be in a situation to need a gun (knocks on wood), and from what my gun nut friends say hobby shooting sounds expensive.

So I’ve got several questions, really:

  1. Is there any benefit in learning to shoot, just for the heck of it?
  2. How much would I be spending if I took up shooting skeets or whatever once a week? (I live in south Florida.)
  3. Would carrying a concealed weapon (legally), provided that I know how to use the damn thing, really make me safer?
2

I used to carry a concealed handgun on ocassion. Still have a non-resident FL permit to do so. I no longer do so because it’s a PIA and feel that situational awareness is plenty enough a safety strategy for me. Of course as ugly white male, no one is going to decide to rape me or think that I’m as easy a target as a female. I’ve also a bad case of sinusitus a few years ago that has left me with tinnitus and don’t want to shoot without wearing both ear plugs and ear muffs.

Learning to shoot is neat skill. And can be loads of fun. Wear ear protection and eye protection.

I don’t know about skeet. I do know that shooting .22 Long Rifle for fun like small game hunting or shooting tin cans, charcoal briquettes, or paper targets can be real cheap both firearm wise and ammunition wise. Wal-Mart can outfit you rifle-wise very economically.

Situational awareness and sound tactics will make you safer than anything. Drive with your doors locked and windows rolled up. Lock your doors and windows on your house. Don’t go to bad neighborhoods. Park close to the grocery store, especially at night. Look for and pay attention to the people around you. Etc. Now if someone is attacking you or is going to attack you, anything from being a tough lady, proficiency in un-armed self defence, pepper spray, or even a handgun will be of benefit to you.

3

This thread is gonna get cluttered into a gun debate fast…

To shoot for fun, you don’t need a Concealed Carry permit. You can shoot at a firing range without having to get a carry permit, you just have to learn the safe and legal way to transport your weapons.

Getting a CCW (Carry Concealed Weapons) permit will almost guarantee you have learned how to shoot, since the qualifying shooting for said permit is pretty strict.

Regardless, you will hear horror stories and hero stories. Take each with a grain of salt.

CCW questions can be answered by your local Police or by most folks at any reputable firing range.

Good luck, be safe and have a great time!

4

I’ll tell you what I’ve done - I’m 25 and currently staying with the parents until I find a full-time job in my field, but they’re only here half time and I spent a lot of time in the house alone. Plus I intend to move into a house, not an apartment.

For this birthday, I asked for a pump-action shotgun. (It’s a Mossberg, I think they call it their “junior bantam” - it’s got a shorter stock and barrel for women and kids. Comes with a coupon for half off a full size when I grow up. :slight_smile: )I have no desire to actually shoot anybody, and for home defense I think the sound of racking a shotgun is very loud and very distinctive, and what I want to be able to do a 3 AM when I hear somebody downstairs. Also the shot will spread some, but I hear it’s not really enough to do much.

Just last week my dad took me skeet shooting with it. The guys at the range were really cool and made me feel less embarassed about not knowing a thing about this gun thing, and I hit about 6 out of 20! I feel confident now that I wouldn’t freak out at the sound or feel of firing the gun, and I might even go back and shoot some more inanimate objects - it was fun!

Personally, I didn’t want a handgun. I don’t think it would make me feel safer to carry concealed. I’d rather work on my running and avoiding the situation; it seems like a situation where you’d need your concealed gun is more likely to end up with it in the bad guy’s hands than a similar situation in your own house. I just don’t personally want to carry a lethal weapon out in the big wide world. Have you read The Gift of Fear? Do so; it’s immensly valuable IMHO.

What shooting a box of shells cost me, in addition to the shotgun itself: box of shells, $5 or $6, range charge, $7 per box. It’s not very expensive. We went down to a place near Jacksonville when I was down at their house in Florida this past week; they only take shotguns there and it was a very nice range. I’m sure as with any hobby that you can spend a crapload of money on it, but I don’t think you have to. And honestly, I really did enjoy myself a lot more than I thought I would - but I was sore the next day. :slight_smile:

5

Oh, PS - if you do get a gun, you must learn to shoot with it. I intend to practice quite a bit, maybe even practice loading the thing in the dark. I want it to become second nature, because at 3 AM you’re going to be frightened and disoriented. At the same time, I don’t want to keep it loaded; I’ve been known to wake up very disoriented sometimes and I don’t want to shoot anybody by accident. YMMV, but don’t get a gun and then never fire it, or only fire it once or twice.

6

Should you? Your call. If you’re going to own a weapon, you should be proficient in it’s use IMHO. Carrying same is a function of your environs, for which I can’t speak. Again, owning a handgun is a responsibility which doesn’t stop when you sign the BATF form. If you can’t operate it in the dark, by feel, you shouldn’t own it. My 2 cents.

7

IMO, a woman should not use a long-barreled gun for self-defense. It’s too easy for a man to grab the barrel and wrangle it from you than a handgun, which is what I would suggest you use for protection. Get something small enough (32?) to carry in your purse. It’s not much use in the car if you’re 50 feet from it.

Practice a lot.

And, if you aren’t ready to actually pull the trigger and shoot someone in self-defense, don’t buy a gun for that purpose. It will only be used against you. If you pull it out and point it at someone, you MUST be willing to use it.

And I strongly suggest you take a gun safety course, if the state doesn’t already require it.

8

I can only answer one question (and offer a lot of other crap, too):

My husband has an AR-10. Best. PMS. Remedy. EVER.

.308 is rather expensive though, so we often take my old bolt-action .22 out to plink cans. I can’t say there’s much benefit out of it, other than fun value, although it can’t hurt to know how to operate a gun, either (IMNSHO).

And I echo what other Dopers have said so far: if you’re going to have a gun for protection, know it well and be ready to pull the trigger if need be. Be familiar with it.

Also, as a general thing, when I lived in Colorado, before you can get a hunting license you must attend a hunter’s safety education course. If your state offers something similar, I recommend it for everyone, not just firearm enthusiasts and/or sportsmen. In the course I took, it covered everything from basic survival in differing situations and gun safety (.22 rifles were provided).

9

It’s easier to have a gun and not use it than to not have a gun and use it.

10

What I’d recommend you do is find a range near you that rents guns, so you can try it out without making a big investment. A pistol rental will probably run you $10-20 an hour, plus ammo (usually around $10/box), a target ($1-3), ear and eye protection (another couple bucks) and range time (around $10/hour). They’ll have someone there who can teach you how to handle the gun safely and shoot it. If you find that you enjoy shooting, you can try out a variety of guns to find one that you like, since different pistols handle very differently.

My husband has a Makarov 9x18 that I found I liked shooting and was pretty good at, but it has a hell of a kick that leaves my hand sore after just a few magazines. We lucked onto someone in the Atlanta LiveJournal community who was selling an Astra A-70 9MM, and I tried it out and really liked it. It’s a small model, which makes it easy for me to handle (holding up a big heavy gun will make your arms very sore very quickly), but has very little kick.

My husband and I both have concealed-carry permits, though we really got the permits more for the heck of it than anything else–Georgia doesn’t make you jump through any of the hoops FL does, you just have to have a clean criminal record, pay 40 bucks, and poof, there you are. We haven’t had occasion to carry the guns anywhere besides to the range. We do keep them in handy locations in the house just in case, but our primary line of defense in the event of a breakin is going to be 911. I’m pretty good with the Astra, but have never been in a situation where I was faced with shooting someone, and the police are trained for just that kind of thing.

11

Shooting can be a lot of fun. And the skills you learn can come in handy in a situation where you need to defend yourself.

At a minimum you should learn how to shoot a rifle IMO, as it’s the most versatile type of firearm you can own. I would also suggest starting with an inexpensive .22 bolt action; the gun will be inexpensive, the recoil is tame, and the ammo is cheap. With such a gun you can learn the fundamentals of marksmanship (breathing, sight alignment, NPA, follow-through, trigger control, shooting positions, etc.) for just a few pennies per round. From there you can move up to more potent calibers if you so desire.

After purchasing your first firearm you’ll want to seek out training. While it would certainly be nice to attend a formal class w/ NRA-certified instructors, it is not a necessity IMO. Perhaps someone you know (e.g. relative w/ firearms experience) could teach you on an informal basis. Above all, make sure the person who’s teaching you is safe, mature, and experienced. As a test, ask the would-be instructor to recite Jeff Cooper’s Four Safety Rules. If they are unable to do so, find another instructor!

When learning to shoot, firearms safety is the first (and most important) skill you’ll want to master. The instructor will know this, and he/she will drill you on Cooper’s Four Safety Rules until they’re permanently etched in your brain. In addition, be sure to always wear ear and eye protection when shooting - no exceptions. (I have a shooting range on my property. No one shoots unless they’re donning ear and eye protection, even if they’re shooting a .22. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.)

BTW: I am not NRA-certified, nor do I claim to be a firearms expert. But I have trained many people how to shoot rifles on an informal basis. Feel free to [EMAIL=magcraft@main-net.com]email me for advice on safety and training.

12

…or to not have a gun and need one. :wink:

But should you learn to shoot one? If you’re curious, most definitely. If anything, you’ll learn something from it. Even if you don’t intend to buy one. It’s fun too.

13

Unfortunately this is not really the case. There is a good amount of classroom safety training in the Arizona CCW course but the shooting section does not IMHO have much of a requirement for proficiency. If you can manage to make a few holes in a target that isn’t far away without wounding yourself, classmates or the instructor you’ll probably pass that section. One cannot learn to shoot proficiently in a weekend course. It takes lots of training and thousands of rounds of practice to become proficient enough with a handgun to defend oneself.
That said dotchan, give it a try as you might enjoy it. I’ve taken TheLadyLion out and given her some basic traning and she’s really enjoyed it. She’s remarkably good too, one of the best beginners I have seen. It’s been my experience that women do better than men when first learning but I won’t bore you with my theories of why. Get a good .22 you can afford to shoot a fair amount then you will be in a better position do decide what else you may want to learn in shooting sports or using guns for defense.

14

CCP’s differ widely regarding what one has to do. In PA, unless they’ve changed the regs, one simply has to have a clean record. I had to demonstrate zero knowledge about firearm safety when obtaining my first CCP. Feeling that such knowledge was obligatory, it was obtained without the behest of the state.

15

28 year old single female here. I grew up around guns. Dad is a serious competitive practical shooter (handguns) on a national level, and both my parents have permits to carry concealed.

If you are serious about gun safety, you will not do this on a lark. Going to the range, learning to hit the target after a couple of lessons, and getting a permit (which is relatively easy in some areas) may be legal, but it isn’t very safe.

The reason is that handling a gun in a real-life, emergency situation is very, very different from handling one at a shooting range. You might be able to hit a target during daylight hours when you have time to take careful aim. But do you have good judgment? Are you jumpy? How do you handle your weapon under pressure? All these things are very important questions.

I spend a lot of time around serious shooters with concealed-carry permits. These men agree it’s irresponsible to carry concealed unless you have special training. My dad, for example, has attended a number of week-long “shooting schools” that taught him how to handle carrying a weapon for personal protection, at home and away. In order to be confident that you will use your weapon properly in a stressful situation, you have to be VERY comfortable with your gun. Learning to shoot well enough to get a concealed-carry permit is almost never sufficient training.

Like I said, both Mom and Dad have concealed carry permits. Dad attended the special schools and he carries almost all the time. Mom is just a natural Annie Oakley. She has great aim and usually outscores Dad when they go to the range to take their tests to renew the permits. But she never exercises her right to carry. Why? Because she knows that being a dead-eye is not enough. She has never had adequate training, and she recognizes that.

I’ve been shooting on occasion since I was a kid. I’ve thought about getting a gun for self-protection. However, I know I do not have adequate training or experience with guns to do this safely, so I am not currently a gun owner. It’s a goal of mine, but I know I will have to be very serious about investing time and effort before I will be ready.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say this: if you’re asking, rather breezily, on a message board if you should learn to shoot so you can carry concealed, you’re not ready. Guns are serious business. You are emphatically not safer just because you carry a gun. In fact, if you carry concealed but aren’t adequately trained–which is possible even if you have a permit–you are dangerous to yourself and others.

On another note: yes, hobby shooting is relatively expensive. A handgun costs about $500; most hobby shooters customize them and own several. Bullets are also relatively expensive. My dad reloads his, but in order to do that, he had to buy a lot of expensive equipment. Belonging to shooting clubs, attending shooting schools, and going to matches also costs money. I worked with one of my dad’s shooting buddies for years. He makes $40,000 a year as an engineer. Not a bad living, but he takes odd jobs to come up with the money to pay for his shooting hobby. If you buy one basic handgun and only plan to shoot at the range, you can do it at a minimum of expense, but the less experience and training you opt for, the less qualified you will be to carry concealed (or, frankly, to handle a weapon at all).

16

I’ve an opinion that might be of interest to you: I’m a 28 year old female, and I’ve been thinking about taking the training classes that a close shooting range offers. Partly because I think it’ll be interesting, and partly because I’d like to become more familiar with guns and learn to shoot one. I’d like to know the mechanics of the thing. However, I’m absolutely not interested in owning a handgun.

I’m not certain that a handgun for self defense is the best purchase or decision a person can make. I think a little common sense can go a long way to deterring would-be invaders or attackers. Also, I’m not comfortable with having loaded guns in the house (says the owner of two rifles that I don’t even have ammunition for; they’re for decoration and personal value only). I’ve read enough on these boards to know that any weapon you have in the house is one that can be used against you, especially if you’re not absolutely comfortable with it.

That said, I am interested in the mechanics of the thing, and I’d like to learn how to handle and shoot a handgun correctly. But I also realize that the short training course I’d take would be in no way proper preparation for gun ownership.

17

  1. Gunfight dreams are fun.

  2. No idea.

  3. Yes. A pistol is the only thing that will improve your chances of surviving a rape. Merely brandishing the gun will stop most violent encounters before they happen.