Between the booth girls, calendars, advertisements, and the average chick in an action movie, a lot of us guys have an image that pops into our heads when we hear “girls” and “guns” in the same context. Guilty as charged. When I go into my “man cave” it’s a gun room, totally devoid of anything feminine other than a 9mm 1911. Because of my background in male-only military units and a male-dominated industry, I think of the Hot Shots calendar or Kate Beckinsale in Underworld. Gun culture is a predominately male endeavor. Guys, that’s something we need to strive to change. I’m sure a lucky few have a wife or girlfriend who wants to go blaze away. For the rest of us, here’s a few good reasons to get your better half out behind a gun:
1. PROTECTION: I’m pretty comfortable with a gun. I’m pretty comfortable with the idea of taking someone’s life in legitimate self defense. I generally feel pretty good about my abilities to defend those I care about as well. However, I can’t always be around, and I bet a lot of the SSD readers can’t either. I’m gone 50% or more of the time personally. A couple of nights ago, my girlfriend had a shady looking/sounding person start beating on the door. At 3:45AM. In the country, in a really sweet house in the middle of a very large nursery. Most of us knuckle draggers would be thanking God that our prayers were answered while we try to decide what blaster to grab. My much better half was not as amused. Home alone with two kids and two dogs who were absolutely going bonkers, she was freaked out. Luckily, she did the right thing and consolidated the family in the back bedroom, got out the Glock 19 and Surefire light I gave her, called 911, and waited for someone to come through the door. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. 60 minutes later when the Deputy arrived to a call of someone beating down a door and screaming to let them in (3 miles from the station…ponder that for a minute), he said they found a dazed person walking down the road claiming their car had broken down. Think about that response time. An HOUR to get to a call of someone breaking into a house while acting deranged. Had they busted through a window with the intent to harm, the cavalry was a long time out. Whether it’s your wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother, neighbor, friend, cousin…if you have the ability to help them defend themselves in the world we live in today, why wouldn’t you?
2. WOMEN VOTE: There’s no doubt that we’re in a politically tumultuous time in America. I personally feel that if the current administration gets re-elected, gun rights will be on the agenda for them as they continue their assault on the Constitution. Women have voted more than men by 3-5% in every election since 1980 according to Rutger’s University’s Center for American Women and Politics. When I vote this year, make no mistake of what I am voting for. I am not voting for a political party. I am not voting for Romney as a person. I am not voting for taxes, entitlements, big corporations, small business, war, peace or anything else. I’ve got my own uber-conservative views on all that stuff. But when I cast the ballot, I am voting for my guns, and my right to buy, own, and sell them. My 2nd Amendment RIGHT to keep them. I believe gun control only punished law-abiding citizens, and I exercise my right to vote to keep that removal of my ability to defend myself and my family at bay. We need all the help we can get with that, and while I don’t have any statistics I’d bet males make up the majority of the staunch 2A advocates. As we try and use the system to protect our way of life against the liberal/socialist agenda every vote counts.
3. QUALITY TIME: We all make concessions in a relationship. I spent a lot of time in malls, shops, wine tastings, cocktail parties and other absolutely miserable crap like that in the past to try and make girls happy. I spent most of that time wishing I was at the range. I spent tens of thousands of dollars on purses, shoes, jackets, little dresses, and jewelry. I swiped the debit card for all of that stuff thinking about how I’d rather give Shooter’s Supply that money. It would have been pretty cool to have been able to do something with the significant other that actually involved anything I cared about. Just imagine for a moment your wife or girlfriend wanting to go shoot instead of whatever else. Imagine not having to hide the new guns you bring home, but having that new Glock or AR welcomed into the household. Pretty cool, huh?
There are a lot of reasons for gun guys to encourage their girls to become gun girls. These three stuck out for me, but no matter your reasons I think getting more women involved in shooting sports and defensive training is a great idea. Northern Red and Stoic Ventures offer female-specific shooting courses that come highly recommended, in addition to your local Concealed Carry class that everyone needs to take. Also, there is an increasing number of women’s shooting organizations popping up around the country, check and see if there is one local to you. Just don’t be mad when your guns start disappearing into her safe.
–www.northernred.com
–www.stoicventures.com
Tags: Canipe, Northern Red, Stoic Ventures
My girlfriend, unlike me, grew up with guns and is a better shot than me, not to mention a better hunter.
My only (arduous and unthankful) task is to convince her .40 S&W is crap..
Nice! Keeper.
Another positive is to have someone cover you or take down the bad guy if you go down.
Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target!
+ 1 (million)
I’m much more impressed when the girl in the pinup looks like she actually knows what to do with the gun she’s holding and not like someone just handed her a prop to hold, even if that’s really the case.
If that were true, her finger would be resting on the frame and not on the trigger. That is how self inflicted boo-boo’s happen.
Sometimes you gotta work the “long con”, or, just stay steady if they give you the hairy eyeball about your guns, try to keep the wild-eyed gun-fervor to a dull roar, and slowly bring her on board.
When we were married almost 10 years ago, my wife asked two incredulous questions; “why do you watch so much football on Saturday?!”, and “why do you like guns?!”
Flash-forward, she still doesn’t have her own piece, but after some compromise, some consistency, and her now knowing I’m dedicated to being as safe and competent with one as I can be, and that I’ve worked on my anger so I don’t break remote controls against the drywall when the defense leaks like a screen-door in a hurricane, her questions now consist of “Why isn’t the game on…?” And “do you need me to pick you up some ammo at WalMart?”
Breakthroughs happen, just sometimes they take a bit of patience.
“….totally devoid of anything feminine other than a 9mm 1911.” zing!
In NJ, the culture of most of the state is pretty anti gun……So I guess you can change it person by person! Starting with friends and family and branching out.
It ain’t exactly the Jehovah’s witnesses of the 2nd Amendment but getting people to see what guns are like and maybe even appreciating them as tools in self defense and sport can’t hurt.
Jessie Abbate, Tori Nonaka, Womans Tactical Association…
Though they are a minority, they aren’t *that* rare. Thumbs up girls, keep on rocking!
My first pre-planned date with my wife, I took her to a shooting range. I knew guns were going to be a part of my life, and wanted to be sure she’d like them too. She got a kick out of it because I was complimenting her shooting ability – unlike her ex, who got upset that she outshot him and quit taking her shooting.
15 years later, we still enjoy shooting together.
I’ve been teaching firearms within various units as a collateral duty for a lot of years, now. It’s been my experience that the ladies are far easier to teach than most guys are, on the whole. Ego gets in the way when attempting to learn anything at all, really.
Shooting can be used quite easily as a practical form of recreation. It will teach anyone, but with emphasis on younger children (under supervision, obviously) it will teach a bit of patience, self mastery, motor skill development, and if the teaching is done properly, it will help a child learn attention to detail, and certain observation skills.
Fun, and educational. 🙂
Of all the guns I have shot and all the motor vehicles that I have driven over the years, not one of them had a label on it that stated “Penis required for proper operation” Teach the women to shoot properly and safely. If they out shoot you, great! Proper attitude toward gun safety and proper attitude of NOT being a victim. She may save your bacon some day.
While volunteering for a “Women on Target” event the other day, I was really surprised at how eager the women were to shoot anything ranging from a Mark II to automatic Uzis and larger caliber rifles like Garands. A few of the women I overheard were even talking about having their husbands buy an AR for them. Great news, especially for point number two.
As a college student forty years ago, I worked as an orderly at a local hospital. Many of the older nurses I worked with were trained as part of the Nursing Cadet Corps in the 40’s and many were Army, Navy or Air Force veterans during the decades following WWII. One former Nursing Cadet Corps trained nurse remarked how much fun she had shooting the 1911 pistol and the Thompson submachinegun during her training while the others smiled and nodded in agreement. One nurse even told me that she was a USAF B-52 mechanic (she originally wanted the USAF to send her to nursing training but an instructor told her that the best and brightest nursed BUFFs instead) and went to nursing school after leaving the USAF. She shot at Expert level with the pistol and the M-16. Working with those women spoiled me for accepting anything less than their healthy attitudes. They were a fun bunch to work with.
I can recommend Randy Cain’s – Cumberland Tactics (http://www.guntactics.com) Ladies Only courses. My wife took one a few years back, she learned a lot and enjoyed immensely. Well worth the money to get your Lady trained.