For TBT…on a Monday

As the old cliché goes, time flies.

I meant to post this blog for Throwback Thursday. Getting ready for the non-starter winter storm that left us with an inch of snow on top of a glaze of ice, plus my one-day-a-week “real world” job left my once-a-month blog unwritten.

Moving on.

Some of you know about my affection, well OK, love for Glock pistols. For a bunch of new readers of both my books and blog, I thought it would be fun to reminisce about how that love affair started.

So. Here goes!

In 2009 I was hard at work on Consummate Betrayal, the first book in the Rowan Milani Chronicles. My research told me that FBI agents carried Glock pistols. At that point in my life, I had never fired a pistol. I’d always thought of shooting firearms as a someday hobby.

Quick aside – my mother did tell me that when I was three or four, she found me sitting on their bed, pointing my dad’s revolver out the window. According to her, I was going to shoot a “sqrill.” Thankfully, she averted a sure disaster!

But I digress.

In order to accurately portray a gun-toting protagonist, I had to shoot a pistol. Since my protagonist, Rowan Milani, is (guess I should say – was) an FBI agent, I really wanted to shoot a Glock. A great friend took me to the range and let me shoot his 9mm pistol. But it wasn’t a Glock, so of course, that wasn’t good enough.

I had to get a Glock.

On Valentine’s Day weekend in 2010, in an almost blizzard, my intrepid husband took me to a gun show in Sioux Falls. The Ramkota Exhibit Hall was jam-packed with gun folk of all sorts. Getting close enough to actually see the myriad offerings of semi-autos, revolvers and every possible accessory, took patience and a little smiling, insistent elbowing my way between bodies.

I’ll never forget seeing that black pistol, lying among all the other offerings, on one of many tables. It was the first Glock I’d ever seen in person. I’d read somewhere that when you find the perfect pistol, it speaks to you. And so…

I picked it up.

It felt so right. The grip fit my hand perfectly. The balanced weight felt comfortable and at the same time, powerful. On that snowy Saturday afternoon, the sleek, sexy, 40 caliber Glock 22 came home with me. And that, as they say, to use one final cliché, is the rest of the story.

Or is it?

I began a new life that day. For me, carrying a gun isn’t about appearing badass and cool. It’s a huge responsibility. For anyone contemplating purchasing a gun for self-defense, I highly recommend a great book, titled Armed Response: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self-Defense by David Kenik.

Your answer to THE QUESTION posed at the beginning of Chapter Two will tell you whether or not you should carry a gun.

My Glock inventory has changed several times. Currently, my 45 caliber Glock 36 is my favorite, supplemented by the sweet, newish Glock 43, a 9mm baby brother to the .45 that fits nicely in my purse or ankle holster.

I’m always up for a civil, well-informed conversation about how our American culture is, indeed, gun culture and about our cherished Second Amendment, guarantor of ALL the other rights we hold dear. I am more than willing to help anyone interested in pursuing responsible firearms ownership.

Thanks, everyone, for reading my blog and books! Please give my blog a FOLLOW, and my author page a LIKE, if you’re so inclined. Here’s my fave – the Glock 36. ♥♥