Right here in the USA:
Based on polling research and gun-sale statistics, an estimated 15 million to 20 million women in the United States own their own firearms. Dozens of those heat-packing women are documented in “Chicks with Guns,” a new book by photographer Lindsay McCrum that is sure to challenge almost anyone’s assumptions about gun ownership.
“Their numbers are really high but their profile is actually really low,” said McCrum, who spent three and a half years capturing artistic and arresting portraits of women with their weapons of choice.
“I was so surprised by the variety and breadth and diversity of these women,” McCrum said. “There are so many stereotypes about guns, mostly derived from popular culture, but the reality is so much more complex and varied than you can imagine.”
I checked with my statistical calculator, which confirmed for me that 15 million American women can’t all be wrong.
I know.
my 6 element is one of those women.
not only does Resident Evil own guns, she is generally a better shot than i am.
Good to see empowered women.
“I learned two main lessons while working on this book,” said McCrum, who divides her time between New York City and California when she isn’t traveling for work. “One is that on the subject of guns, nobody is neutral. And the other is that when you get outside of the blue-state cities, everybody has a gun.”
Gee…amazing what you can see when you get outside of the elitist ivory tower gated enclaves and look at the real America. Supposedly the person who wrote that is in her 80s. Wonder how she managed to stay so clueless in all that time.
S’been a while since you’ve run this theme.
A small drop of Hoppes behind each ear, and perfect!
The young and lovely Virginia, our dispatcher, ( and ex USMC ), wants her own personal M-249 SAW. Full auto makes her happy!
Yeah, but full auto would make anyone happy.
I’d carry one if I could hit something with it. Last time my Dad took me out, we tried different guns to see if we could find a better fit. His .45 still worked best as far as hitting anything, even though it was too dang big for my hand. He was standing behind me, I’d pull the trigger, I’d say, “Wait. Where’d it go?” as it hadn’t even nicked the target. He’d shrug and shake his head. Next go round, he’d stand behind me, saying in my ear, “Center of mass! Center of mass!” and I’d still miss that huge target as I yelled back, “I’m trying!” I think once I nicked an edge. We decided I need a shotgun with big scatter…
Have you tried either a revolver with small grips, or a single stack magazine 9MM? Both are quite slim in the grip. My niece, Michelle, a Waukesha PD officer carries a GLOCK, and it fits her hands well. Walther has introduced the replacement for the PPK, and it is small, yet a full size 9mm.
That IS one of the nice things about being male, with male paws, I carry a double stack .45ACP as my duty weapon, an HK USP45F.
Still, there is a lot to be said for a shotgun.
Believe it or not, those are the sizes we started with. Finally out great frustration, I said, “Let me try yours…” It’s huge, but I hit something. Dad’s .45 is a military issue, so whatever that is… that’s what it was. I haven’t tried his new Glock.
Bou – you might like a .38 revolver. I have a Smith & Wesson Chief’s Special (snub-nosed) and it’s a cream puff to use. Powerful yet the recoil is minimal. I also have a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm and it too is a dream to shoot. A little bigger recoil however the gun is nearly a perfect-fit for a woman’s hands.
Nothing against your Dad, but it might be worth it to pay a professional instructor.
I used to work with a Marine who told me of his problems on the range. With the M9 he kept missing high. The gunny, his instructor, told him he was pulling the weapon up, that it wasn’t recoil, and that was why he was missing. My friend disagreed. Finally, the gunny insisted on his loading one round, passing the weapon to my friend, who would fire and miss, pass the weapon back and the gunny would repeat with just one round. This went on for a few minutes until my friend took the weapon, squeezed the trigger and CLICK and he was holding the unloaded weapon with the barrel 30 degrees high. The gunny had proved himself right and my friend started paying attention.
Just a little tale on the wisdom of professional instruction in these things.
Likely you are using too much gun for you and are too far away. If you are not used to shooting a .45 ACP (I’m assuming when you say 45 you mean a 1911 varient).
Start close. Like 10 feet. Not yards, feet. Shoot at a paper plate. Gain confidence at close range with a .22, then slowly increase the distance. Most defensive shooting takes place under 21 feet.
While a shotgun is touted as the best all around in house defensive gun, which I think it is, it can be cumbersom. Plus, the spread is only about one inch per yard downrange (for a 12 ga). At 10 yards that is only a 10 inch pattern. Back that down to most home defense ranges, say 5 to 7 yards and your pattern is only 5 to 7 inches. More chances of a hit than the 1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter of most bullets, but still needing a moderate amount of aiming.
And, as Mr. Badger said, try lots of different sizes of guns and grips.
Take an NRA pistol class. Seriously. Or at least get some coaching from someone other than a family member. Preferably someone who knows how to teach shooting. Anyone can learn to shoot reasonably well.
We’ve talked about my taking a class. I just don’t have the time, so priority has been low. I figure it’ll happen. My biggest issue is the noise. I’m so freaked out by it, I jump before the gun goes off. (Yes, I’m wearing all sorts of hearing protection) But I’ve never been good with loud noise and I think we all figure if I practice so much that the noise doesn’t bother me, the rest will come. But I jump in anticipation.
VERY common Bou. The anticipation thing is what sinks most target shooters; it did me early on. I’d anticipate then pull down on the gun – I think most of my early shots hit the dirt!
I figured out how to trick myself into NOT focusing on the eventual firing of the bullet. I concocted a mantra of sorts and while I said it in my head, I would gently squeeze the trigger. Over time, I stopped anticipating the shot and just – squeezed the trigger.
And there is the other thing – squeeze vs. pull. Thinking about it as pulling will increase your anticipation of the “bang”. Thinking about it as a gentle squeeze will fix that.
Once I did those things – my shooting accuracy increased by a huge margin. Nowadays in a tactical shooting gallery set-up at our range, I out-shoot my husband nearly everytime.
It’s a thinking thing. Not just a ready, aim, fire thing.
Trigger press, not squeeze, Kris. If you tell people to squeeze the trigger many will unconsciously squeeze with the whole hand. Not much, but enough to throw the aim off when the trigger breaks.
If you tell them to press the trigger and usually they don’t get the rest of the hand involved. As you said, it’s a thinking thing.
Joe – interesting as I was taught gently squeeze rather than pull. That advice changed my shooting significantly – I actually started hitting a target at 25 yards. Though I much prefer the tactical shooting gallery at our range.
Kris, I’ve found that much of the time if you tell someone to “pull” the trigger they jerk it. Squeeze works better, but I found that a lot of people do it like squeezing a lemon – using the whole hand. Telling them to press the trigger (usually) will take it from the lemon squeeze to just the index finger. Usually.
One interesting exercise is to have someone hold the gun on target while YOU work the trigger for them. That will show them that their aim is fine, but that either the mechanics of their trigger pull or anticipating the shot mess them up.
Starting with a .22lr is a superb idea. The bap, bap, bap you hear through the muffs is not very bad, and you can eventually work up to something that goes BANG.
S&W makes women’s pistols in thier Ladysmith line.
Agreed on the .22lr! That was my first gun – a Sig Sauer Mosquito (piece of crap). Much as I loathe it, it was a good training-wheels kinda gun. Worked up to the 9mm within 3 months. Mothballed the Sig Sauer less than one year after purchase. The hubby’s GSG-5 rifle is far more .22lr fun!
Blunderbus
Check out http://www.Barnhardt.biz. She gets loads of Muslim hate mail. She tells them where she lives, (with directions), and opines they fill their hand with iron and to wear body armor. Makes it more fair for them.
A lady with fire in her belly.
There is apparently a much bigger market out there with the ladies for this stuff. I note at my favorite gun shop there are a variety of autos and wheel guns with of various shades for the frames/slides or handgrips no guy would be caught dead with. Maybe dead from, but never dead with.
I like the “Hello Kitty” M-16 myself.
Alas, the ’86 amendments to GCA ’68 pretty well prevent private ownership of a M-249 anytime soon. I was shocked when Reagan signed them with that poison pill in it.
As long as a machine gun was registered to a private person before 19 May 1986, it can be sold and traded between individuals. Here’s a place I go to drool every once in a while
I saw a Minimi for $129K and a SAW for $43K. Alas, few people have that kind of money. NFA and GCA ’68 are both unconstitutional and vile acts of Congress.
QM – I agree about all that. NFA, GCA ’68, and the restrictions in FOPA ’86 all suck.
I’ve been thinking of saving up for a MAC-11 in 9mm or .45 and getting a MAX-11 upper for it. The MAC-11 can be picked up for around $2500 to $3000 and the MAX-11 upper slows the fire down to about 600 rounds per minute. It’s basically a poor man’s UZI and a lot of fun to shoot! I’m lucky to have friends with equipment like this who allow me to use it from time to time
I kind of like this picture.
http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/1/8/0/3/0/9/7/Pink-AR-15-for-a-woman-of-compassion-
The ladies are big part of the gun demographic.
CCW classes, range trips, registered trap shoots, gun classes, everywhere, I see the ladies.
My wife went one time to the range with her S&W 9mm, hit the 15yd target every round, broke a nail, and has not been since.
I still trust her with my six.
I ain’t sayin’ if The Doctor packs or if she don’t. I will say she just got her own Life Membership in the NRA.
FWIW, my wife of nearly four decades just started shooting for the first time this past year while visiting her brother, and avid shooter. Now she wants her own handgun. And my adult daughter has often asked me to teach her how to shoot.
I think with some prep for my daughter, the three of us will go to the range next week together.
Ya’ll should know both women are even more liberal ‘lefties’ than me. And my wife is surprisingly a good shot. Who knew?
We also would fit perfectly in a “blue state city”, so McCrum shouldn’t try to stereotype us, either.
As long as you are a “bitter clinger” to your guns, you don’t fit blue state cities perfectly. Just move up by Gay Bay and you’ll have this fact rubbed in your face.
It’s not stereotyping if it’s 98% true, Flit.
Casey – 98%???…….
…….well OK, maybe 89%.
My sister, 53 yr. old mother of two teenagers has a concealed weapons permit and carries in her purse. They (her family) live pretty far out in the country up in the mountains and the bears and mountain lions living nearby are real, close and hungry. My sis is usually first out the door on opening day and will take a long shot using her Winchester Bolt Action Pre 64 Model 70 .308. The black bear rug in my parents living room is hers.
My daughter just got her 30.06 Springfield ready for a day at the range. She wants to learn to shoot the pistol. Life is good!
Kind of hard on the bear, though.
Bou … I have a suggestion for you, if you’re interested. When my husband and I entered our 80s, we found that our muscle strength had declined, and we could no longer fire our house gun, a street sweeper, safely. So we went to a lovely gun shop here in Houston called Collectors’ Weapons where a goodly portion of our cops and other peacekeepers buy their weapons and ammunition. We were lucky enough to get a very knowledgeable clerk, a retired cop, who understood our problem and took us over to the handgun cases to show us a new kind of house gun that might work. It’s called a Taurus ‘The Judge’ and is popular with businessmen who carry valuables in their cars. The version I bought has a 6-1/2″ barrel, but there is also a version with a 3-1/2 inch barrel which will fit in a car’s glove compartment. It’s a five-shot revolver, with a comfortable feel to it, and can be loaded with bullets or Number 2 shotgun shells. The next day after we bought it, we went to one of the numerous shooting ranges in Houston and rented an armorer expert to check us out on the gun. My husband, being a fifth generation Texan, is completely familiar with guns, but I’m not, so we both took the course.
The gun is comfortable and easy to use, and I feel quite confident that if some SEIU goon comes up on our property to bother us, we can protect ourselves. And of course, a Grand Jury would no-bill us, if it ever got that far.
A Texan’s home is his castle, that God.
Marianne
Marianne;
I went to the Taurus website and checked out their video on “The Judge.”
I think I’m going shopping. The footage of the double .410 tap via the passenger window is remarkably convincing of it’s utility for “woggy-be-good” situations.
Sadly, out here in granola land, putting one in the glove compartment, or having it anywhere in the car other than in a locked case separate from its ammo, is a felony.
if you live here in the PRC with our host and myself, don’t bother getting excited about The Judge: a law firm that does w*rk for CRPA and the NRA here did a legal review on revolvers that will shoot shotgun rounds, and their opinion was that under California law, it would be viewed as a sawed off shotgun.
Sorree … A Texan’s home is his castle *thank* God.
For the children. I do it for the children.
1911′s are accumulated for their wedding gifts. Long/short barrel shotgun combos will be going out for housewarming gifts when they get their first home.
The city folk at the Son&Heir’s high school grad party thought it strange when he received from me all the bits and pieces to assemble a varmint weight barreled AR15.
What? You all don’t do the same?
I’m into Ma Deuces as gifts myself. If a .50 round doesn’t take care of the intruder, or the first couple of guys in the line of SEAL wannabes that supposedly are cops, then nothing will.
Youngest of three (two older brothers and red-haired to boot), our daughter heads off to the range with me most Saturday’s. Took to it like a duck to water — getting time in with a Glock 25 while preparing for the police academy. Has come along great and shooting pretty consistent, tight groups at near and mid-range. Working her up to the 1911A1 and have fam fired the M-1 (likes it despite the kick) — still hesitant with the AK-47 though…
w/r, SJS
I personally dislike GLOCKs intensely. I find the grip angle uncomfortable, and the trigger is an accidental discharge waiting to happen. I will say this, that the GLOCK is the gun for those unfamiliar with a sidearm, and not likely to put the effort into learning one, like your average cop. GLOCKs are simple enough that you can train a chimp to use one. But a serious handgunner will want to move on. Good Luck to #1 Daughter.
The gun nuts in my area closed the only outdoor range within an hour of home so I decided to start shooting pistols. (There are indoor ranges nearby.) So back in April I applied to the Great State of New York for their permission to keep a hand gun(s) for target shooting and hunting. There was less paperwork for getting my CPA license. There were signs all over the police station saying the process takes 6 months and you shouldn’t even think about calling. I’ve been waiting patiently for my license but all this gun talk is making me anxious to get iron in my hands and getting in some range time.
Several of the women in my life have the great bumper sticker “You can’t beat a woman who shoots.”
Ain’t it the truth?
Oh that is every bit as good as the La Jolla museum in San Diego which carries the words “Brave Men Run in My Family” on it’s outside beach facing wall.
“There are so many stereotypes about guns, mostly derived from popular culture, but the reality is so much more complex and varied than you can imagine.”
Indeed. When people learn that I have a CCW and am well-versed in handguns, shotguns and rifles they are – shocked. I wear nice clothes, have a jewelry collection that the husband refers to as “Fort Knox”, I always have a fresh french manicure, my hair is always coiffed just-so and my make-up is always fresh.
My 2 favorite handguns have pink grips. My ear protection is pink and my range bag is pink-camo. Just because I’m a girl carrying a gun doesn’t mean I can’t look good doing it.
I can hit center-mass at 20 paces and I can do it while moving.
I’m a girl, I carry a gun. Any questions?
Yeah, I have a question … Kimber or Wilson?
+1
Since your husband has the GSG .22 MP knock off, you need a S&W M&P15-22. I have one, and really, I sometimes wonder if it can be legal to have a gun that is that much fun. Since it IS a .22lr AR-15, rather than an adapter, all the controls and drills are the same as a 5.56 NATO one. For the price of 2 full 30 round magazines in either my Colt Match AR-15, or my M&P-15 OSR ( Optical Sight Rifle ), about $30.00, I can put 550 rounds of .22lr through the M&P15-22, ($15.50), pay for the range time, ($5.00), and then go to Wendy’s or McDonald’s after.
The M&P 15 OSR comes sans sights, between the EOTech sight, and the MagPul backup sights, I paid almost as much for the sights as the rifle! But the M&P 15-22 comes with extremely nice iron sights, and is flat topped and Picatinney Railed so you can put any sights you want on. Female friends of mine that shoot either the M&P 15-22, or my SIG-Sauer 522 love them so much, that usually it is better to let them keep shooting until the .22lr runs out, rather than to try and take the rife away from her.
Scott – hmm, sounds like some fun. That said we aren’t in the market for any new weaponry right now; but I thank you for the advice which I will certainly share with The Oracle.
And I hear you on the cost of the sites. The site we got for the GSG did cost nearly as much as the rifle itself.
StB,
Love my SIG-Sauer 522. I use Center Point scopes (bought on sale at Dicks) to good effect. Saved a bunch of money, and I still hit the target.
My M&P-15-22 has an inexpensive red dot on it. The M&P15 OSR goes to work with me, so it has a proper sight that can handle being abused on it.
Joe – neither. My 2 faves are Smith & Wesson – .38 Chief’s Special, circa 1975 (which is the one I carry, when I do) and an M&P 9mm. My husband has the Kimber – .45 1911, of course. He also has a Smith & Wesson 625 .45 revolver, the Jerry Miculek edition.
And yes, I have nicknames for my guns. Cuz … I’m a girl.
((chuckle)) At the gun shop/range my wife worked at a few years back (and at which I helped out off the books)) one young lady was drooling over one of the Kimbers. “This just oozes estrogen!” she said.
JoeNCA –”oozes estrogen?” Ewwwww.
A Kimber was next on my list to acquire. But now maybe I need to rethink that! Yikes!
What will burn your eyes Flit, will be the price on a new Kimber. Over a grand for a 1911. That chokes.
a-b – I know. That is why I haven’t yet pulled the trigger to buy one… too many other priorities at the moment.
Yes they are expensive (overpriced?), but are quality and accurate. So I’m saving my many pennies.
Expensive, yes. Overpriced, no. Or, didn’t used to be, haven’t looked at one for a few years. But they were the best out-of-the-box shooter around, likely still are. And, really, they are not that much more expensive than other 1911-types on the market. And shoot like, say, a Smith & Wesson with a $750 tune up.
I think the one the lady was drooling over was http://www.kimberamerica.com/1911/raptor-ii/raptor-ii
If not that, the Eclipse II.
The ammo isn’t cheap either.
I wish I hadn’t read that. My husband bought one last year. I never asked how much it cost, he never told, and now I know. I think I’m strokin’… (I don’t shoot, but my husband does. All the time. He likes to tell the guys on the range when they asked where he learned to shoot that ‘Uncle Guido taught him’. He’s Italian.)
Bou, think of them as investments. You can always get your money back out of a Kimber.
I shall keep my HK. i am told that they are getting sort of expensive, now, too. I payed, with the LE discount $630.00 in 1999, I guess that the USP45F is creeping up near a grand, too.
Everything is getting more expensive. The Oracle paid around $1,200 for his Kimber and that was nearly 3 years ago. That said, he did MONTHS of research on which .45 he wanted; after all that he read and learned the Kimber was by far the best investment. At this point, after nearly weekly shooting with a tactical self defense league at our gun club, it’s barely broken in. LOTS of life in them for sure (so Bou, don’t stroke out on the initial price; your hubby’s Kimber will last him a long time).
And no, the ammo isn’t cheap – that’s why The Oracle reloads his own.
Kris … I knew we were soul-mates on the self protection issue. And there are a lot like us down here, which is why we don’t have many illegals breaking in to our houses, in spite of being a border state, even in these parlous times. I remember Lex quoting something on the order of “if you don’t have self protection and you call the cops when someone is breaking into your house, they’ll get there in time to avenge your death. Maybe.”
Marianne
Marianne: having you call me a soul-mate, well…that’s high praise indeed, thank you. And The Oracle and I consider every-so-often a move to Texas. We have family and friends here that would be very difficult to leave behind however…perhaps someday. We also think about Arizona for retirement.
Kris, come to AZ and we can be neighbors and share ammo.