Women Gun Lovers Gather for Conference
Women Gun Lovers Gather for Conference
By MATT GOURAS
.c The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – In what organizers call “the softer side of shooting,” a gun convention for women is offering classes ranging from hunting and gun safety to gourmet game cooking and fancy hat making.
There was even a pajama party with manicure tips and a shooting scrapbook contest.
The Shooting for Women Conference was created for the female gun enthusiast who doesn’t enjoy the testosterone-charged environment at most gun events, said Susan Long, editor of Shooting for Women magazine and a promoter of the four-day conference, which began Thursday.
The idea is to create a more feminine place so women feel comfortable learning about guns. Long said women and younger people are the fastest growing group in shooting sports.
“Women enjoy the sport. You just get hooked,” Long said.
One seminar taught the basics of collecting antique guns – and what to do if a dead husband leaves you with loads of collectible guns.
After an event Friday showing off the latest in camouflage fashion, there was instruction on cowboy action shooting and rape awareness.
Empowerment was another theme.
Cinda Brooks, a game warden from Austin, Texas, and a six-time winner at the World Police and Fire Games, is giving a speech on how to become a champion.
“There are some national and world-class shooters here. And across the board, what they love talking about the most is helping out new women into the sport,” she said. “I love teaching women. I have a real passion for motivating women to succeed.”
About 550 women from around the country registered for the conference. Organizers have promised it will be the first of many.
Long said that since Sept. 11 – and any time there is a crisis – there is an increase of the number of women that sign up for concealed carry classes.
Tennessee state Sen. Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat from Clarksville, said she hopes to pick up a tip or two on a seminar about setting up shotguns for shooting clay targets.
“For myself, it is the uniqueness of the opportunity to be with an all-women’s group,” said Kurita, who has sponsored legislation giving tax breaks for gun safes.
Political opponents of the gun industry aren’t pleased with the effort. They claim the gun industry uses fear to persuade women to buy a handgun.
“They’re very open about the fact this is not just about bringing women in to enjoy hunting and the like, but that there is a very political aspect,” said Violence Policy Center executive director Josh Sugarmann. “The bottom line is guns are being sold because a gun owner is more likely to be a gun voter.”
But there’s no debate on politics at the Nashville conference – just lots of gun talk, surrounded by field trips to the Grand Ole Opry and other tourist sites.
“This is not really a shooting convention; it’s more of a get-together conference,” said Dallas resident Nancy Galletta, a member of the Divas, a contingent of women from the Texas Women’s Shooting Sports.
“We have so much fun whenever we’re together. It’s the camaraderie,” Galletta said. “It’s like a sorority.”
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