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Women and guns: a growing phenomenon
Yet another report. I think it's one phase of the expansion and acceptability of gun ownership that, well, this is hard to phrase. I think gun ownership and use was quite acceptable in American society from the settlement of Jamestown up to the 1960s. Then, largely under the influence of the mass media, it became less favored. After half a century of that, it is returning to the norm. Of course, that half century comprises most of our lives (or all of the life to those younger than I) so it seems as if it were a sea change. The mass media is behind the curve, still thinking in the old terms and only slowly and reluctantly realizing the new.
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I lived in NYC till the late 80's and the timing was as said. High schools and colleges had small bore teams and often ranges in the basement. The media based on Vietnam (i.e. killing) being bad started the rant that guns are just for killing, that there is no need for a gun except by police and so on. By the late 70's most colleges in the NYC area got rid of their teams and ranges. Lead regulations killed the ranges helped by administrations that would not spend the money to upgrade the air filtration systems on such a dangerous activity.
So you had a city where you could walk pretty much anywhere at anytime go to a city that you couldn't walk anywhere at any time - just too dangerous. Did that have anything to do with small bore teams - no but it had a lot to do with the mindset change that people where not responsible for there actions it was societies fault but society knew what was best for you and so you should just do what they said.
As the phrase goes - strange times and they are just going to get worse in NYC
There's a theory that the women's suffrage movement got a real kick from the development of small repeating pistols in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The possibility of a pistol in the purse made it much more reasonable to think of women as "big girls who can take care of themselves" as opposed to "childlike beings who need a man to protect them."
I have the pleasure of partnering in a firearms instruction business (full-time) with a woman.
Not just any, but one of the top women action pistol competitors in the country (think: USPSA).
When we started three years ago, our main focus was our Women's Intro to Handguns.
It's still our big success and leading feature.
Basically, when we (mostly, she) walk into a gun shop with a range and inquire about instructing there, they take one look at my partner and pretty much hand over the keys.
Even I, who spends almost every day on the range with a woman (well, one who's "A" class in USPSA Limited Division- not many of those!) found myself remarking upon leaving the largest range/store in the area after some privates Friday that "there sure are a lot of women in this store."
And that, from a jaded one!
What I like to say after we send yet another happy new female shooter out the door at the end of the night: "There's another one who'll never vote against us."