My father in law wants to give me his .38 Colt Detective Special. I'd be happy to have it. He carried it for many years, and it slept in his bedside table at night. Just one of many reasons to respect his daughter.
It's a safe firearm to carry fully loaded.
I have plenty of long guns and I have a CC permit, but figuring out how to legally accept and register a handgun gift from a family member from one state to a blue New England state was not easy to figure out until I reached the right person.
All he has to do is to bring the gun to his local dealer. That dealer will mail it to my local gun shop, where it gets re-registered to me. Simple enough. Main thing to remember, once you have possession, is not to transport the handgun out of state unless there is reciprocity.
I have a place quite near by where people can play with handguns. Not being a handgun afficionado, a simple revolver instead of a 9 mm is all I want or need. For home defense, I still think the Taurus that fires shotgun shells might be best. However, I can hit close targets with handguns.
When we were kids, we had a loaded .22 revolver in the kitchen drawer and a loaded 12 ga. leaning against the kitchen entry. Not paranoid at all - just country ways. Shooting beer bottles off of stumps was the main handgun violence. Difficult to hit them - easier with a snowball.
I taught all of my kids - and Mrs. BD - firearm handling and firearm safety. Learned it from my sportsman gramps and my ex-Army Dad. Hope to pass it on to grandkids, God willing.
