One nun talks about her love of plastic pistols
Glock Be Praised!
“To me, they’re an absolute giftfrom God,” says Sister Assumpta,the 47 year old nun from the theOrder of the Blessed Heart, as shecleans the bore of her much usedand well-loved Glock 17. “WhenI think back to all the years I spentinsisting that I’d never use anythingother than a snub-nosed .38, well– it just makes me cringe!”Sister Assumpta’s conversion tothe Austrian manufacturer camewith a trip to the Austin GunFest,in 2002. “A few of us went downto the convention, thinking that itmight be a chance to pick up somecheap ammunition. I wasn’t reallyexpecting to see anything unusual, but there was a salesman therewho I recognised from some of thecommunity projects the convent isinvolved in. We got to talking and
he showed me my rst Glock – the
classic 17.”
It wasn’t exactly love at rst
sight, however. As with manyshooters, Sister Assumpta foundthe plastic body of the handgun aradical departure from the norm.“I thought he’d handed me somekind of display model or kiddy’stoy and when he told he it wasthe actual gun, well, I didn’t knowwhat to think. It didn’t have thatsolid heft that I thought a gunshould, but we went to the range
and once I’d squeezed o a few
rounds, well... let’s just say I sawthe light!”Taking this as a cue, we headover to the small range in the base-ment of the convent, where wesee Sister Assumpta’s full rangeof Glocks – a standard 17, a com-pact 19 and a subcompact 29. The jewel in her collection, however, is
the selective-re Glock 18. When
asked how she came about such
“I’m trying toconvince theMother Superiorto allow me togive shootinglessons...”
a rare weapon – one commis-sioned for and used exclusively by Austria’s EKO Cobra counter-terrorism unit –Sister Assumpta becomes uncharacteristically coy.“Let’s just say it’s thanks to an oldfriend... I wasn’t always a nun,you know!”Indeed, Sister Assumpta brief-ly considered a career in law en-forcement before taking her vows.“I thought long and hard about itand eventually God told me that
I could beer serve Him by enter
-ing the convent. There was a lit-tle bit of doubt in my mind whenI was undergoing my postulancy, but I was relieved when they told
me about the ring range here.
I’m here most days and since I gotmy interest in Glocks, it’s really re-awakened my interest in shooting.I’m trying to convince the MotherSuperior to let me give shootinglessons to the other nuns. She saidshe’ll think about it.”But what about the other greatadvantage of Glocks – namely thattheir compact frame and plastic body allows them to be concealedeasily. How about it, Sister As-sumpta – ever worn a concealedGlock in church?“That’s between me and mymaker,” she says, but the smile onher face suggests that perhaps itwould be best not to interrupt herduring a service...
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