The steady rise in firearms sales across the country has not gone without the feminine touch, according to WCBS in New York.
An increasing number of gun owners are women. Quoting a recent Gallup Poll, the station noted that 23% of women responding to the survey said they are gunowners, which is up from 13% in 2005. The station estimated that 15 to 20 million American women own guns.
The phenomenon isn’t just local. In Shawnee, KS, there’s a new gun shop that caters to women. According to KCTV News, the She’s A Pistol gun shop is owned and operated by Becky Bieker, who told a reporter, “I felt like most stores catered primarily to men.
People need to know there are options.
They don’t have to allow themselves to be victimized. They need a source to ask for advice.” What draws women to She’s A Pistol is that “they seem more comfortable approaching another woman in a smaller environment,” Bieker said.
In Kansas, KCTV reported, more than 35,000 men have concealed carry permits, while slightly more than 6,000 women have the permits.
That’s probably more than in the entire state of New Jersey, where WCBS found women at a gun range in Highland Lakes enjoying themselves.
Many are taking firearms training from veteran instructor Anthony Colandro, who says women are the “driving force” right now for business.
In New York, the station reported, the number of female applicants for gun permits has doubled in the past decade.
Gun prohibitionists told the station that having firearms in the home increases the danger to one’s family.
Dennis Henigan at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence maintained that this “cannot be disputed.” Evidently, women think otherwise.
WCBS quoted one unidentified armed female who told them, “I take my job as a mom very seriously. Having it, there is just another layer of protection. Hopefully I will never have to take it out.” There is more evidence of the growing interest among women for gun ownership. Out in Detroit, recent free events for Michigan women have attracted lots of attention.
NRA certified firearms instructor Rick Ector with the help of a half dozen other certified instructors, held a “Personal Protection Awareness Weekend” in mid-August at a facility in Orchard Lake. Target Sports II gun range donated the shooting facilities and Black Hills Ammunition donated 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammo for the event. The 40 plus participants received a free copy of Women & Guns, a publication owned by the Second Amendment Foundation, and free gun locks donated by the Detroit Police Department.
Down in Burlington, NC, the American Women Shooters Mentorship (AWSM) is gathering new members and offers training to women on the proper use of firearms, according to the Burlington Times-News.
AWSM is a non-profit educational organization established by Crystal Mann, a certified firearms instructor.
She teaches what the newspaper called “Ladies Gundamental Clinics” that are designed to promote a healthy respect for firearms and gun safety.
As more women’s shooting groups spring up all over the map, it remains to be seen whether this translates to a new voting bloc in favor of gun rights.
Meanwhile, there is no slowdown on the horizon for businesses catering to armed females, and business, as the adage goes, is booming.
In an Aug. 30 column in USA Today, Stefani Carter, a former prosecutor and Texas State lawmaker, noted that Black women were currently the largest segment of Texas’ population currently seeking concealed handgun licenses. In her column Carter cited some of the same statistics on the rising number of women gunowners nationwide that CBS cited.
