The giving of arms and the instruction in their use affirms two sentiments: the trust in the good intentions of the recipient and the trust in the mental and emotional competency of the same. As such, the giving of arms and training is one of the highest compliments a human can give to another.
I have been see more students who have been given firearms by friends or family.
I ran an NRA Basic pistol class. Out of the 12 people there were three women who had never handled a firearm, had been given a defensive pistol for Christmas, and decided to get training. One was from her husband, I don’t know about the other two.
It might have been better if they got some training first and were more likely to get a firearm that they could shoot well but it was still a wonderful thing to know about.
If you are familiar with the Hammond Indiana case where the 911 call is available you might know that the woman was given the firearm earlier that day and used it to defend herself. I do not know if she had ever handled a firearm before.
A newspaper article on this is: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/article_fe593494-d93a-5d57-9d2c-a61a5fff53e6.html
The link to the audio recording at that site is no longer good. You can access the recording at: http://www.lekas.org/Indiana-Self-Defense-Shooting_911audio.mp3
And that’s right!
The opposite must also be true. That is, that a man trusts no one whom he would disarm for no distinct reason.
Or words to that effect.
Further.
A man who trusts no one must in fact, not trust himself since he ascribes to others the lowest of himself.
Working from most recent to least recent, I happened upon the russian translation of this first….and went through the trouble of using google translator both to read and respond. Now I feel silly.