Parents are newish to shooting...
With the civil unrest and uncertainty of the election as well as the future of the country, my mother (67) and step father (75) decided they wanted a gun for protection within their own home and nothing beyond that. They live in Houston, TX.
Mom has hardly ever been around guns, but she is not afraid of them. My step father previously had a standard little collection: 30-06, a couple revolvers in 38 and 357, a 30-30 Marlin, 22lr bolt rifle, and a pump action 12 gauge. But several years ago his nephew pawned the whole lot without his knowledge; that's a different story.
My mother came to my house seeking advice and to ponder several different platforms and options. She was immediately opposed to a revolver because of the DA feature and lack of a safety. My kids (her grand kids) go to her house a lot, so she did not want a non-safety pistol around. Despite the plan to keep it locked and hidden, she still wasn't comfortable with a revolver. I seconded her opinion with the fact that a bad guy could just grab a revolver and trap the cylinder from spinning thus making it unshootable.
I had my mother try to hand cycle the slide on several of my semi auto hand guns. She could not cycle any of them except for a Sig Sauer P226 with the 22lr kit installed.
So we were off in search of a 22lr semi auto pistol.
Searching around my small town would be better because the greater houston area is wiped out of firearms to purchase. We ended up finding and getting a pair of G44's (Glock's new 22lr pistol), a Ruger 10/22, cleaning supplies, and a bucket of 1400 22lr bullets. The following day I slapped a spare scope on the 10/22 and we made a trip to the range.
With some help at first she could get the pistol to do what she wanted it to do. As time went on she was doing it all on her own, loading, shooting, reloading, etc. According to her the new G44 was getting easier and easier to use in all aspects; cycling, dropping the mag, etc. I feel the day boosted her confidence. After I sighted in the 10/22 it was like she could not miss a coke can at 25 yards with it.
I know a 22lr is not a sho-nuf man stopper, but my folks are not out looking for fights nor trying to engage into anything unless it is the absolute last resort. I'm glad that they now have something beyond kitchen knives to defend themselves. I just have to keep pressing them to continue getting to the range.
