CNN: Females want guns, and gun instructors

Contrary to what you may be told by MAIG/MomsDemandAction/Everytown or CAGV/March for Change, the number of first-time gun owners is increasing every week and the fastest growing segment is new women shootings.

This influx of new female gun owners is so strong that their desire to get trained and/or improve their shooting skills has led to a huge pickup in demand for female gun instructors. As CNN reports:

If you're a woman, and you're licensed to shoot, then your skills are in hot demand.

The market for female gun instructors is booming as more women want to learn to shoot-- both for self defense and for sport, said Tina Wilson-Cohen, who owns She Can Shoot, an all-women firearm and self-defense training business in Fairfax, Va.

The National Rifle Association, noting the burgeoning market opportunity, is trying to boost its ranks of 8,000 NRA-certified female instructors, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

In 2009, the NRA organized 280 "Women On Target" training clinics nationwide, and 8,000 women signed up. In 2013, the group held 450 clinics for 12,000 women.

Hmmm, 50%+ growth in five years. But while the photo accompanying this article shows women geared up for recreational 3-gun competition, the true demand seems to be coming from self-defense minded women. Again, CNN reporting:

While Arulanandam said self protection is still the primary reason women take up gun training, he said they're increasingly realizing "that they'd like to pursue it for activities like target shooting or skeet shooting."

And before anyone shouts out about knuckle-dragging female gun goons being dragged into shooting by their equally raw knuckled male companions, read this:

Now, Babes with Bullets conducts 24 camps a year (a mix of three-day intensives and one-day sessions), and has over 4,000 alumni ranging from 24 to 74 years old. "80% of them have never touched a gun," said Ferns. "They're professional women, real estate agents, nurses and young divorcees."

And in case you did not note it, this article appears on CNN's Money web site because it is mostly a business article and observes:

Last month, Babes with Bullets held two camps for female oil workers and residents in Minot, N.D., a small town that's seen a surge in its population because of the oil boom. Ferns said 24 women attended the camps.

"When you get a lot of oil money to a tiny town and the population explodes, it also brings with it a sudden increase in crime," said Ferns.

Wilson-Cohen has also seen a huge spike in demand since launching She Can Shoot in 2010.

"I advertised it on social media. Within 24 hours I had 99 inquiries," said Wilson-Cohen, who had spent 22 years in law enforcement. In just four years, her business has ballooned into a franchise in 12 states with 4,000 alumni.

She estimates a 20% increase last year in the number of women who trained with her group.

"More women are financially independent now and they're staying single longer," said Cohen-Wilson. "They're not relying on a man in the house for protection."

You can find out more about Babes with Bullets here.

So, the next time the anti-rights gun restrictionists tell you that gun ownership and interest in the shooting sports is on the wane, or that it is just of interest to Rambo wannabe males, bring up this trend to them. The anti-rights types hate being confronted with narrative-busting facts from the real world.