tartanterrier
Is somewhere outhere.
She was a moron, and should move to America if she loves carrying shotguns around so much. Snakes don't want to be near you anymore than you want to be near them and will try to get out of your way 100% of the time. I live about a 2 hour driver North of Port Macquarie and my backyard is an acre of rainforest and I've only seen a handful of snakes here. I've handled a lot of snakes in my time, and unless you're squeezing the shit out of them even when you're holding them in your hands they'll mostly try to get away rather than turn and strike.
Same with spiders. I vacuumed 6 funnel webs out of my pool yesterday, but I've never seen one outside the pool, because they live deep underground and only come out at night, and mostly only after rain.
Sure, there's a ton of wildlife here that can kill or hurt you, but it almost never does.
She didn't go around with a gun all the time, only when she was working at the farm. Her boss would give her it so she could protect herself and the livestock, if there were any around whilst she was there.