Month: April 2006

New Shooter, New Blogger.

There’s a new guy out there. Texican. Goes by the handle “Pistolero.” He says he’s only been shooting for about a year, and he’s only been blogging a couple of months, but he has excellent taste in firearms. Swing by and give him a visit.

Well, one good way to start is by convincing a plurality of 1/2 the population that guns aren’t icky, evil, and the spawn of Satan.

For self-defense, women take up firearms

As violence rises, so does female gun use, advocates say

MELISSA MANWARE AND MARK PRICE
[email protected]@charlotteobserver.com

A single mom wanting to protect her children. A mall worker fearing a dark parking lot. A real estate agent meeting strangers in empty homes.

They are Charlotte-area women. And they own guns.

More women, gun advocates say, are buying, shooting and carrying firearms — in briefcases, purses or even on their hips.

For some, it’s sport. But with violent crime up from five years ago and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police actively searching for a serial rapist, many women say it’s about self-protection.

Nationwide, violent crime is down, but that doesn’t mean that in specific locations it isn’t up.

“Things out there are tough, for men and for women,” Christy Barnes, a 22-year-old chiropractic assistant, said while practicing at a shooting range earlier this month. “I’d like to know I can handle myself.”

Local gun retailers and range owners say women are one of their fastest growing markets.

And the National Rifle Association says female participation in its programs is soaring. The NRA doesn’t ask members their sex, but 22,000 women across the country have taken its instructional shooting classes in the last five years.

The federal government doesn’t track gun sales by sex, and some gun control groups such as the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence, question whether a national trend really exists.

Of course they do. A million armed mothers is not on their agenda.

The number of women with a permit to carry a concealed gun in Mecklenburg County has risen about 15 percent to more than 750 in the last two years, an Observer check of records found. The percentage of Mecklenburg’s concealed carry permits issued to women, however, has remained about the same.

At a gun show at Metrolina Expo on Saturday, customers said some sellers offered guns with fancy, even pink stocks, to attract women. There also was a table full of purses with a special pocket and holster hidden inside.

Operators would not let an Observer reporter in the show.

What?!? They didn’t slip someone in “under cover”?!?

The growing female market, experts say, can be attributed to many things, including more women heading households, more fear of crime, and less stigma attached to gun ownership.

And I say halleluja for that!

Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Gun Shop, says women — most with a husband twisting their arm — used to make up about 2 percent of his business. Now women account for about 15 percent, and he carries guns made especially for them and the purses equipped with a holster.

Hyatt said he has seen a slow, steady increase of female customers over the last 20 years — and then big jumps after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the chaos following Hurricane Katrina. He also saw an uptick in sales to women after police said a serial rapist attacked a Dilworth jogger last year.

This is now known as “Awakening.” I covered a few cases of it back in September in the aftermath of Katrina. Men were the primary beneficiaries, but women were awakened as well. Of course not everyone got the whole message, but you take what victories you can.

More and more people are understanding what it means to be a member of what Glenn Reynolds calls “a pack, not a herd.”

Dan Starks, who has taught firearms safety courses for 17 years said a firearm can give women the power to control almost any situation. And with crimes like carjackings and home invasions increasingly common, Starks says they need the protection.

That’s something else – while overall violent crime is down, the kind of crime is changing, somewhat. Carjackings are much more common than they used to be, for example.

“When you have a firearm in your hand, and the knowledge, skill and chutzpah to use it, nine times out of 10 you won’t have to use it,” he said. “Criminals don’t like armed citizens.”

Lauren Hargett, 24, said she gets nervous walking to her car in an underground parking area near where she works at SouthPark mall. She intends to get a concealed carry permit and practiced her shooting the weekend after a convenience store clerk was gunned down in a robbery in that same part of town.

“Every night you hear about something happening,” she said.

And, while violent crime is down to near 1960’s levels, that doesn’t mean those levels are particularly safe. Just lower than they’ve been in decades.

Hyatt said most of his female customers first buy a gun for protection. Some of them learn they like shooting, and then take it up as a sport. Since the NRA began offering women’s only hunting trips in 2000, spokeswoman Ashley Varner said, participation has skyrocketed from 500 to 6,000. Locally, gun dealers say, few women hunt and most who do go with a spouse.

Saturday afternoon, 11-year-old Lindsay Sigmon, walked out the exit of the gun show resting a long gun on her shoulder. Her parents, Gary and Shanna Sigmon, said they began teaching Lindsay to shoot at age 4 because they have guns in their home and believe everyone who lives there needs to know how to operate them safely.

Lindsay and Shanna, an English teacher, shoot at a cone for practice at home. “We go hunting (for deer), but never get anything,” Lindsay said. “I don’t know if that counts.”

At Firepower, an indoor pistol range and gun shop in Matthews, workers say about one in 10 who use the range are women, many of whom shoot for fun. Their regular customers include married couples and father-daughter pairs.

They wear safety glasses and ear protection, then take turns firing at paper targets in a small room with six shooting lanes 50 feet long. Bullet casing are scattered on the floor.

On Wednesday, a 72-year-old woman went in asking for information about the range. She owns two handguns, she said, and likes to shoot every couple of months so she hopes she’d feel comfortable if she needed to use a gun in an emergency. She didn’t want her name printed in the newspaper, she said, because she didn’t want people to know she’s got the guns.

That’s another thing: unless a woman has a pathological fear of firearms, the majority of them discover that shooting is fun, and it’s empowering. Back in November of 2004 I wrote a couple of pieces about Slate columnist and NPR contributor Emily Yoffe, the “Human Guinea Pig,” and her exposure to shooting. The first was about her Slate article, “Guinea Get Your Gun,” subtitled “How I learned to love firearms.” The second piece was a transcript of her NPR interview on the same subject. The interviewer sounded almost shocked by the fact that she enjoyed – and was good at – shooting, but her experience is the norm, not the exception.

Zack Ragbourn, with the Brady Campaign, said guns don’t necessarily improve your safety. If you have a gun at home, according to the campaign, it’s at least 20 times more likely to end up accidentally shooting someone than it is to protect you from an intruder.

Well, that’s down from “43 times more likely to kill someone in the home than an intruder.” Thank Dr. Arthur Kellerman for those bogus statistics. Note that the authors of this piece check to see if the ratio of female-to-male permit holders in their county has changed in the last two years, but accept (and present) the Brady Campaign mouthpieces’s “fact” as gospel.

Anne Tucker, 50, said she’s been shooting since she became an adult. She grew up watching Westerns. When she was a kid her brother shot her grandfather’s guns, but she didn’t get to do it. Now, she carries a gun on her belt. And six years ago, she gave up her job teaching job skills to disabled people to work at Firepower.

She’s drawn a gun twice in self-defense but never actually pointed one at anyone. Mostly, she said, she enjoys shooting for sport.

“I like hitting a very small target from a very long distance,” she said. “It’s kind of like golf.”

Depending on the sport, it very well can be.

Then there’s this one, from the opposite coast:

Women put finger on the trigger

By DANIELLE SAMANIEGO
Contra Costa Times

Call it a post-Sept. 11 thing or a bonding thing.

Laura Nicoli calls it stress relief.

“You can go back to work the next day and not want to shoot anyone,” the Rodeo resident said through an infectious laugh that bellowed from her small frame.

Nicoli is one of many women making their way to the gun ranges as rifle associations and gun clubs make efforts to cater to the rising demographic.

“We’ve really had a phenomenal growth pattern,” said Mary Sue Faulkner, director of the National Rifle Association community service programs division. She referred specifically to the Women on Target program, which has grown from 500 participants in 1999 to 5,600 last year.

One thing is clear: this isn’t your grandfather’s gun scene. At places like the Martinez Gun Club, family night on Wednesdays offers dinner and shooting.

The Women on Target program is just one of several steps the NRA has made to handle women’s interests. Its Web site offers a Women’s Programs page for seminars in areas like self protection and female-specific hunting and shooting opportunities. Even the current NRA president is a woman. Sandra Froman has served since April 2005.

Magazines like “Women & Guns” and the NRA’s own “Woman’s Outlook,” which boasts a circulation of 55,000, offer equipment and clothing tailored for women.

“Here, we can barely keep up with the demand for those volunteers that want to provide shooting opportunities for women,” Faulkner said. “Shooting is fun and I think once women pull the trigger — go skeet shooting, go to the pistol range — I think they’re hooked. It’s for the fun, but also for self-protection, that’s an issue too.”

John Geisness, an NRA-certified training counselor who lives in Martinez, said he noticed a jump in women wanting to learn how to handle a firearm properly after the fallout of Hurricane Katrina.

“There were a fair amount (of women) after 9/11, but the media really showed what was going on with the hurricane and people became more concerned…we’re seeing more people interested in hand guns for self protection,” he said. “The majority of the people I see are females between the age of 35 and 55 that have never owned a gun before and they realize education is the key to understand the safety and operation of a firearm.”

Geisness teaches day-long NRA instruction courses throughout Contra Costa County in basic pistol, rifle and shotgun courses. There is also a shorter course on home firearm safety available.

At least weekly, almost daily, Zendo Deb details another failure of a restraining order over at TFS Magnum. Via Deb, here’s another piece about women and shooting sports, and for some local flavor, here’s another one about Tucson native Debbie Ferns out actively recruiting female shooters down in Louisiana, Author touts shooting for women. Ferns is the author of Babes with Bullets: Women Having Fun With Guns.

I bet that title makes Sarah Brady cringe!

UPDATE: And here’s another piece on women, guns, and fun; a profile of NRA-certified instructor Cathy Ash of Barlow, OH. Money quotes

For more and more American women like Ash, knowing how to handle and properly use a firearm offers empowerment, self-confidence, security, and fun.

“I love it all, just so long as it goes bang,” Ash said of her guns.

—

“Actually, it’s very empowering to know how to handle a firearm safely,” Ash said. “Your confidence level soars and it’s loads of fun.”

—

“It’s still overwhelmingly boys and always has been,” Stone said of shooting. “For most women, husbands and fathers have always taken care of the gun cabinet. Now women and girls want to learn.”

(Via Tam & Deb.)

How Many Times Do I have to REPEAT Myself?.

Via Joe Huffman comes this inane imbecilic piece from the inappropriately named “Gun Guys” web page, Our Country’s Crazy Concealed Carry Laws. It’s pretty much boilerplate anti-concealed carry diatribe, and we get the standard money-quote:

Here’s the two things you need to know about concealed weapons: first off, they’re dangerous. More guns means more violence, no matter what.

Really?

Let me repeat myself. One. More. Time.

Here’s the U.S. murder rate from 1900 through 2002:

The decline has continued through 2005.

Here’s the non-fatal firearms crime stats from 1993 through 2004:

Here’s the simple and aggravated assault rates from 1973 through 2004:

According to this Clinton-era Whitehouse press release:

Handguns Account for Nearly Half of All New Gun Sales – About 2 Million Per Year. Fifty years ago, handguns represented only one out of every 10 new gun sales. Now they account for more than four out of 10.

And – one more time – here’s the map of the U.S. showing the progress of “shall-issue” concealed-carry laws:

Now, since 1986 we’ve added at least 20 MILLION handguns and probably 40 million shotguns and rifles (literally millions of them so-called “semi-automatic assault weapons”) to the total in private hands. We’ve gone from eight “shall-issue,” 17 “no-issue” and 24 “may-issue” states (and one unrestricted) to 37 “shall-issue,” 9 “may-issue” and 2 “no-issue” states, with TWO unrestricted.

But you want me to believe that “More guns means more violence, no matter what.”

You, too, are cordially invited to eat my shorts. “Straight shooter” my ass.

UPDATE: Mike Lief posts a link to this piece, and draws this comment:

I question the veracity of your source.

from “Sbarro.”

He questions the Bureau of Justice Statistics and Bill Clinton’s White House? Who does he trust??

And why didn’t he raise his objections here?

Machiavelli On Absolutism

From his 1517 treatise on practical politics, The Prince:

The way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live, that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation.

And 489 years later, this is still true.

(Hat tip to reader Frederic, who has this as his sigline to his email. Talk about topical.)

Why Our Tax Laws Will Never Be Simplified.

Instapundit links to a smackdown of Sen. Grassley‘s take on “incompetent tax preparers,” where the honorable Senator says:

Any Joe can hang a shingle and prepare income tax returns. There are no requirements at all,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said. “It’s incredible that we have legal requirements for a barber to cut your hair, but there are no requirements for someone to prepare your taxes. Americans have a right to expect that when they hire a tax preparer they’re going to get honest, straightforward advice.

Others have noted that advice from the IRS is no more reliable than advice from “any Joe.” Still more have advocated gutting the tax code and going with a “Fair” tax or a flat tax or a consumption tax.

Never going to happen.

This is why:

It’s the only power Congress really has. They’re not going to give it up, short of being at gunpoint.

Evidence that the UK’s Policing Problems are Due to Philosophical Leftism?

I think so. Check this March 22 Daily Mail story:

Police force has ‘no time for small crime’

A police force has stopped investigating less serious crimes unless they are racist or homophobic.

Theft, criminal damage, common assault, harassment and non-domestic burglary are among offences being “screened out” due to manpower shortages.

But officers are allowed to make an exception for any such incident judged to be motivated by race or gay hatred. It would then classify as “aggravated” and qualify for more serious treatment by police and the courts.

Thus making racial minorities and homosexuals a special, protected class.

Exceptions would also be allowed if a victim had been repeatedly targeted or was elderly or disabled.

“Allowed,” but not required.

The policy, introduced in Hull, provoked a storm last night. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis called it ‘terrifying’.

Police chiefs on Humberside insisted their officers no longer had time to solve minor crimes.

The screening policy was necessary because the Home Office had set tough targets for cutting a backlog of 3,500 unsolved serious offences in the city.

Lesser crimes would be recorded but not pursued, even where there was overwhelming evidence, such as CCTV footage.

The only chance of a prosecution is if an offender ‘presents themselves’ for easy arrest – for example a shoplifter being handed over to police by store detectives – or if a repeat offender is later arrested for another more serious crime.

They’re completely fucking insane over there.

“Courage.”

Perky Katie Couric has acknowledged that she’s leaving NBC to become the anchor of CBS’s evening news, and one of the talking-heads for 60 Minutes.

That whirring sound you hear is Edward R. Murrow spinning in his grave.

I HATE Spring!.

This is the second night in a row I’ve awoken at 12:30AM unable to breathe. Tonight, nasal spray opened my sinuses OK, which then proceeded to flow like a river down my throat, causing uncontrollable coughing. So, here I sit at 1:48AM waiting for the Sudafed to kick in so I can get a couple of hours of restless sleep before I have to go to work and sit at my desk fighting to stay awake.

Spring SUCKS.