Women offered home firearms safety class

A good idea from North Dakota.

From the Bismark Tribune:

Women offered home firearms safety class

By Richard Hinton

Women unfamiliar with the guns their hunter spouses and kids keep in the house will have an opportunity to learn more about them.

A women's-only home firearms safety class is planned from 2 to 4 p.m. March 18 and March 25. It's sponsored by the Bismarck-Mandan Rifle & Pistol Association.

Although more than a month away, there has been some interest, said Leon Nesja, who taught the class solo last time.

Nine women participated in that first class.

"They loved it," Nesja said. "Most said it exceeded their expectations. They didn't know what they would learn, but they learned a lot."

This year Mary Kay Tokach will join Nesja as an instructor.

"She works a lot with the small-bore programs. She's very good," said Nesja, who is a retired biology and science teacher.

Tokach and Nesja will work from National Rifle Association materials, and both are NRA-certified instructors.

It is my very strong conviction that it is the responsibility of all firearm owners to ensure that everyone in their households are schooled in the proper and safe handling of firearms. If the firearm owner has not accepted that responsibility, then a program like this one could fill in the gaps.

If you are interested in reading about firearm safety, click here.

I found this article on Keep and Bear Arms.

Women Who Hunt

In the recent Dec/Jan issue of Field and Stream, editor Sid Evans made the following request:

There are more than 3 million female hunters in the United States, according to a new estimate by the National Sporting Goods Association. I don’t know exactly how many women read this magazine--I suspect more than a few are stealing it off their husbands’ nightstands--but I’d like to ask for your help.

In 2007 we’re going to publish a special section on women and hunting, and our hope is to answer some basic questions: What’s it like to be a female hunter today? How is hunting different for you? How did you get started?

Please e-mail your thoughts and ideas to...

The women hunters have responded and Field and Stream has 40 of their stories posted in the online magazine. Here are a few of their stories:

Women Who Hunt: True Stories and Photos From Field & Stream's Female Readers

Dear Field & Stream,
My name is Carli Ausmann. I am 14-years-old and live in Wyoming. My Dad is an avid hunter and loves the outdoors, so I took a hunter's safety course last spring so I could go hunting with him. Although I had been turkey hunting with him when I was younger, I had never hunted big game. That is until I drew a Wyoming elk permit this fall. I went out and target practiced until I could hit clay pigeons on the ground at 100 yards. My Dad and I were hunting just two days when we came across a 5X6 bull elk, and I dropped him with one shot! I love to hunt and I don't think that hunting is any different for me than it is for a guy. As a conservationist, I understand the importance of hunting and harvesting. I like being a female hunter, mainly because I enjoy learning about the outdoors, and it is a great family adventure. My male classmates gave me a little static for outdoing them, but that's their problem.
Sincerely,
Carli Ausmann

Hello Field & Stream,
Greetings from Ontario, Canada. I have to tell you I don't read my husbands issues of your magazine, the subscription is all mine. I have been fortunate to be able to have hunted most of my life.

My dad and granddad raised my sister and I, and most of that time was spent in the bush. I have carried my own gun since I was a kid. My dad and granddad built our deer camp about 45 years ago. It is still used to this day and sits on 400 hundred acres of secluded, private land. It was here my lessons were learned, valued, respected, and above all loved.

I hunt deer, moose, turkey, bear, and upland game bird. My favorite store in the whole world has to be Cabela's, and I do spend most of my money there. My family knows never to plan a family event in hunting season, or I won't be there, and my honeymoon was spent moose hunting in Northern Ontario...

...I have never hunted harder or tried to fit in because I was a woman. I stay quiet, humble, and do what I love. Let your ability speak for itself and it will. I have come across women hunters that have this chip on their shoulder about being a woman hunter. They feel they have to defend their right to hunt and to be treated as an equal. You don't! Earn that respect and you will be a respected, accomplished hunter. I don't automatically respect every man that has a gun in his hand either. It comes from what his capabilities and knowledge of hunting, safety, and the outdoors.

Hunting is a passion and a way of life for my family and myself. I feel very fortunate and thankful that I have been able to have the greatest memories in the world as a hunter and outdoorswomen.
Thank you,
Jean Rapson

Hello Field & Stream,
Let me tell you what it's like to be a female hunter today. As a sophomore at Lake Superior State University, there couldn't be a better time or place to be a hunter. Nestled in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it is one of the best colleges for outdoor recreations, such as hunting. I never really hunted much before going to college; only a few squirrel hunts here and there. Once I got to college, though, I realized it was inevitable, and that I would have to learn to hunt if I was planning on spending four years here. My father, being a little worried about me hunting knowing he had not taught me how, took me out on my first deer and turkey hunt during my freshman year of college. This year, I brought the gun to school and got a major kick out of walking across campus carrying a gun case. I had quite a few guys stop and tell me where I should go and what techniques I should use...

...Females hunting are not that different than males hunting. The only difference may be the looks we get! We go out to have a good time, get away from the real world, and enjoy the outdoors. It just so happens that it is not stereotypical for women to hunt. I can see a change taking place though, especially in the younger generations. People are becoming more aware of our changing gender roles and there are a few good men and women who are beginning to get females involved in hunting. We don't know what we are fully missing until we try. I believe that many women would love hunting for many of the same reasons that men do, it's just a matter of getting them out there. I only hope to someday see my own sons and daughters learning to hunt from not only my husband, but myself as well.
Thank you,
Jamie Ellio

These are just three of the stories you will find on Field and Stream. Go and read them all for yourself, or click on one of the pictures above to read the associated story in full.

This increase in woman hunters is both good for the sport, and good for our right to keep and bear arms. If you hunt, invite the women in your life to join you. You could be creating memories and strengthening bonds that last a lifetime.

Programs Give Boost to Female Shooters

The best way to ensure that the people of "We the people" stand with us on Second Amendment issues is to introduce them to the shooting sports. The more people that are familiar with firearms and take part in the shooting sports, the more people that understand that firearms are not the issue as advertised by the anti's. The participation by women in the shooting sports is growing by leaps and bounds. The shooting sports are an area where women can compete with the men on equal footing, gender does not play much of a role in most of the shooting sports.

One program introducing women to the shooting sports was reported on in the Asbury Park Press out of New Jersey.

JACKSON — Fifty percent more women are target-shooting now than were involved in the sport five years ago, according to surveys conducted by the National Sporting Goods Association.

The statistics from the Connecticut-based trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industries show that of the 22 million people who target-shoot more than once a year in the United States, about 5 million, or 23 percent, are women. The surveys were conducted from 2001 through 2005.

More than 1.2 million women in the United States target-shoot at least 20 times per year, the surveys show.

"More and more women are discovering that hunting and shooting sports are great family activities," said Doug Painter, National Shooting Sports Foundation president.

Millions of women actively participating in the shooting sports, millions of women who are not scared of guns, who teach their children the safe handling of firearms. These are women who can look Sarah Brady in the eye and tell her to pack sand.

According to the NSSF, over the past five years, the numbers of women target shooting with air guns rose by 55 percent to 866,000; with rifles, up 53 percent to 2.7 million; with handguns, up 33 percent to 3 million; and with shotguns, up by 16 percent to 1.4 million.

Participation in the National Rifle Association's Women on Target events — which introduce women to target shooting — has grown with the sport.

The NRA started sponsoring the clinics in 2000. Thirteen events were held across the country that year, with about 500 women participating, said NRA spokeswoman Mary Sue Faulkner.

This year, more than 6,800 women took part in 229 Women on Target events, including the one held at the Central Jersey Rifle and Pistol Club in Jackson in September.

Did you see that? Three million (3,000,000) women actively practicing with handguns. That is 3,000,000 women who will have an option other than calling 911 if attacked.

To read the full article, go here.

Go here for more information on NRA sponsored Women's Programs.

I found this story on Keep and Bear Arms.

In The Spotlight!

Gorin, who is from Mesa, Ariz., has helped the TCU rifle team to two first-place and two second-place finishes this semester. The team will resume competition on Jan. 27 at home against Air Force.

Go Frogs! TCU has one of the relatively few college women's shooting sports teams in the country. They compete in both air and small bore rifle, and do very well.

An interesting bio of Miss Gorin:

Class: Sophomore

Vital stats: 5-foot-6 member of the TCU rifle team

Highlights: Three times during her freshman year, Gorin set school records in air rifle, the last being in January at the UTEP Triangular (586). That mark was broken earlier this season.

How did you get into rifle? My dad had lots of firearms in the house, so I'd go out to the range with him every once in a while and shoot small bore. I started enjoying it a lot, and at the local club I shot at there was a junior program. We'd come out and shoot small bore once a week. I fell in love with it. I started competing in local matches and from there I started shooting air rifle, too.

How old were you when you started? I was 11.

Did it start out as your dad wanting to teach you safety? It was really something to do with dad. Once a week, that was my dad time.

Did you have a certain day you'd go out there? Every Thursday night.

Now you can probably beat him, huh? Yeah (laughs).

Did you start getting really good at it and figured out you could go to college to do rifle? The coaches always told me they could see I had a lot of potential. So I stuck with it and kept working hard. It really helps that I enjoyed it a lot. My dad started throwing around ideas [about college] in about ninth or 10th grade, but I never really thought about it until my junior year, and I started looking up schools that had programs.

NY Women Learn To Shoot

I found this article from the New York Resident at Keep and Bear Arms. Any article about folks learning about firearms catches my attention. An article about women learning to shoot in New York City, for free, is a must read for me.

Marjory Fagan stood motionless, slowed her breathing, stared ahead intently and then moved her index finger almost imperceptibly. Bang! Wincing slightly from the .22-caliber rifle’s recoil and piercing boom, she steadied herself, leveled the rifle and pulled the trigger again.

Okay, so the author of the article has never fired an actual firearm, and adds a bit of drama about the recoil and piercing boom. We will let that slide as she does a pretty good job of portraying this program in the remainder of her article.

For Fagan, who is in her 60s, carries a designer handbag and lives on Manhattan’s fashionable Upper West Side, spending a Saturday at the shooting range was something different. The free women’s instructional clinic she was attending at the West Side Rifle Range offered women, many of whom had never handled a gun before, an opportunity to learn how to shoot.

Free range time, in NYC, that is too cool. This course normally costs $50.00 at this range.

Across the country, more women are taking up hunting and target shooting thanks to the National Rifle Association’s Women on Target program, which offers instructional clinics on firearms, shooting and hunting. According to the 2004 National Sporting Goods Association survey, 4.3 million women in the United States participate in target shooting and 2 million in hunting. The NRA sees the Women on Target program as a way to add to those numbers.

The NRA started the program to meet a demand, said John Robbins, an NRA spokesman. “Women wanted a women-friendly environment and shooting instruction,” Robbins said. “Women found it nice to find other women who were interested in shooting.”

According to Robbins, 500 women attended clinics in 2000, the program’s first year, and in 2005, the number climbed to 5,600. Over all, about 23,000 women have participated in the program.

This is how we help to ensure our RKBA. Introducing folks to firearms in a safe and comfortable manner. Teaching them firearm safety, and watching the smiles on their faces as they put holes in the center of a paper target.

At a Manhattan gun range recently, Margit Sawdey carefully examined her target so she could improve her aim on each round of practice with her .22-caliber rifle.

“I wouldn't have come here if it weren't for the women's shooting sports league,” said Sawdey, 50, a public health administrator who started shooting with the league about two and a half years ago.

“I was looking for a hobby, and flower arranging didn’t work,” she said over popping gunfire.

The final sentence is the kicker:

Heath hopes that Women on Target offers a positive view of firearms. “It’s a very fun, therapeutic, safe, rewarding sport,” she said. “I always try to get that across to women.”

Read the entire article here.

Girls With Guns

Keep and Bear Arms is pretty much the place to go and find firearm related news all in one place. I guess it is kind of like the Drudge Report for folks interested in national and global firearm news.

While searching for an article to discuss, the headline "Girls With Guns" jumped out at me and demanded at least a quick read. You see, one of the happiest times with my third daughter is when she beat me at the long range .22 silhouette shoot for the first time. She is pretty sharp with that single shot Martini of hers. Reading the article reminded me of times spent shooting with my daughters, sharing their excitement at a well placed shot, and just a little bit of pride when others complemented them on safety or skills.

This article describes how women are becoming more involved in the shooting sports, and shooting in general:

ASHBURNHAM -- Esther Erickson pressed her face against the stock of her shotgun, and put her finger on the trigger.

"Pull!" she yelled.

An orange clay target soared over the field in front of her.

Erickson fired, as her target hovered for an instant.

She hit it with apparent ease and it exploded into tiny fluorescent pieces, almost like a miniature fireworks display.

The booming noise of her shot reverberated as she rested her 12-gauge shotgun on the ground and waited for others to take their turns.

"This really is just for fun," she said later as she took a break from shooting.

The Ashburnham woman is one of a growing number of women learning how to shoot.

She and others attribute the trend to a number of factors, including the desire to learn how to protect themselves, the chance to spend more time with their husbands and boyfriends and less social resistance to women learning how to shoot.

Erickson doesn't pay much attention to being a woman in what is stereotypically a man's sport, she said.

She said she likes the challenge of hitting the moving target.

"It's almost like competing against myself," she said.

I can relate to the "competing against myself" comment, that is what drives me to work harder at the range.

Patricia Natoli, of Maynard, has been shooting for more than 20 years.

She began shooting because her husband was a police officer.

"When I started shooting ... you didn't see women, like housewives, on the range," she said in a phone interview. "Now, you see a lot. The last three years, I've noticed a big change."

Part of the appeal is social, said Natoli, who now competes in single-action shooting, in which shooters dress up like cowboys and shoot with old-fashioned guns in play-acting scenarios.

"It's something I can do with my husband," she said.

I hope she is right about the number of women at the range increasing. There are a good number of women at the indoor ranges, and more are competing at the outdoor range. If Patricia is correct, this is a national trend, not just local.

Natoli, 51, works as a police dispatcher, and said she feels comfortable shooting around men.

Some women are nervous at first, but they loosen up quickly.

"There is no sexism on the range," she said.

Nell Vaughn, 50, of Royalston, said she surprised herself when she took up shooting.

She originally wanted to take archery, but no adult classes were available, so she enrolled in a pistol-shooting class.

Plus she figured that shooting was a good skill to have.

"I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to make a gun safe," she said in a phone interview.

And unexpectedly, she enjoyed the course for more than just its worst-case-scenario application.

"Bullseye is a very quiet, slow thing, it was much like meditation," she said. "You really become aware of how much your mind and body interact."

Vaughn said she enjoyed the required discipline and hand-eye coordination, which mirrored the skills she had honed playing Irish flute and violin.

There are a couple very interesting and good aspects to this article:

1. The more women that are seen involved with firearms, the more women will want to try out shooting. The more women involved with shooting, the more gun rights activist are on our side.

2. This article was written in a Massachusetts newspaper, the Sentines & Enterprise of Fitchburg, MA. The entire article was written about women with firearms in a positive light, a rare occurrence.

There is one paragraph in the article that we all need to take to heart:

"Women have been turned off by guns, mainly because of some of the good old boy antics of men, who tried to make it an exclusive-type thing"

Take a friend shooting, show them a safe and fun time. The more shooters we have, the less ears for the Brady Bunch.