rtk wrote:Where the heck is VoR, he should have a solution to this problem.
RTK
:Swoops in to the rescue:
Sorry, been out of town since Thursday. Little surprised this place hasn't imploded with my absence...
Anyway, my advice has already been given by other posts here. Skip the trickery. Go with honesty, go with emotional reasons (which are handy because they tug at the heart strings of dearest Mother when applied properly). I have the fortune of siblings who really could not care less, and parents who have supported me shooting within reason and safety. I am the only one who cleans and maintains the firearms that stay at their places. They do use them occasionally on the farm, but if I wanted to replace one they'd let me with no problem. I clean and oil them once or twice a year when I visit. Although the only ones I have my heart set on are a Remington Fieldmaster pump .22 lr and an older Remington smoothbore .22 LR bolt action. More sentimental vaue there than anything, I grew up using those, as did my father.
Are your parents opposed to you cleaning them when you visit? Maybe if you show up physically, and take time to clean them when you visit, your Mom will realize how important they are to you, more and more. My mother is a safety freak, but isn't against guns, so I can only partially relate. You know your Mom better than anyone, and there is always a key to victory with a Mom. If she hates them like you say, this can surely work to your advantage. I'd say keep any excitement out of your voice when you talk about acquiring them. Make it a heart felt, serious matter when you convey your concern (sounds like this is exactly what you have done.) Go into the value of each gun if in good condition, and then the value of each gun if allowed to deteriorate. Your Grandfather would want them to be kept up, and to be used appropriately by his descendants, or else he would have sold them before he passed.
You look at it like I do, if they want to pass something to you when they die, that is fine, and I hope that day never comes. Maybe they'll change their mind before that. Maybe they just send them home with you some day, after you visited and cleaned them. In the end, its up to them, and them only, but you have some very valid points. If they do want you to have them when they die, it is pointless to let them rot until then. Why not allow you to receive them in good condition, no matter the day you acquire them? Clean them if you can in the meantime, persuade them if you can otherwise.
Good luck buddy.
To answer your thread question: There is NO good argument. You don't argue with feelings.
I can't possibly take you seriously after that statement. I would venture a guess that there a whole lot of folks that will disagree with this, myself being one of them. Women are no more irrational than men, and to call all fear irrational is in and of itself irrational. Thanks for playing though.
