Monday, December 14, 2009

Mothers-in-law and guns

Mother-in-law has discovered that I own guns. We've tried to keep this
from her, and we've been remarkably successful. But I think this was
mostly because the guns were kept in their cases (locked) up in my
office, and she never goes into that corner of the house. But she
happened to walk through the garage on Saturday morning and saw the
recently-installed gun safe.

As some background, my mother-in-law has very definite opinions about
certain things, mostly concerned with what people do and don't do. Or,
to be more specific, what decent people do and don't do. These
opinions are simply prejudices based on her experience growing up
in a middle-class neighborhood in Philadelphia surrounded by decent people.

As additional background, she doesn't always handle things in the most
mature of manners. For example, when a boy of the wrong religious
affiliation called my wife at home when she was in high school, her
mother sulked about it for weeks. As another example, when my
father-in-law bought a pool table some years ago, she was unhappy.
(Decent people don't even play pool, much less have a table in their
house.) She made him put it in a very cramped corner of the basement
where it was impossible to make a decent shot. She then proceeded to
move a freezer right next to the pool table, making it even harder to
use.

So I now wait to see what my punishment will be for having guns in the
same house as her grandchildren. This should be an interesting
experience, as I've not yet really been in the doghouse with her (even
after 10 years, and even though I don't have the correct religious affiliation.)

OTOH, this could be a good thing. I wouldn't mind moving somewhere
with better gun laws and lower taxes. This could open up my options.

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