Gun permit applications are off but local dealers say sales are
good and 30-40% of buyers are women, some of whom take up
recreational shooting

BY LOUIS ROM
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

Fewer people are applying for handgun permits in San Bernardino
and Riverside counties, according to the state Department of Justice.
But gun dealers like Dennis Riley, owner of A-1 Wholesale Guns Inc.
in Rialto, said gun sales are as good as ever.

Today, women make up 30 percent of his customer base, said Riley,
compared with about 10 percent just five years ago.

“Why are they doing it?” asked Riley, before answering his own
question.

“It’s very simple. Believe me, though it’s said that all `men’ are
created equal, they’re not. When you have a 280 pound, 6-foot-6
gorilla coming at you and you’re a 95-pound woman the equality is
gone.”

Jo Anna Jones, a 57-year-old mother of three and grandmother of
nine, knows well of what Riley speaks.

Six years ago Jones was raped and tortured, held hostage for more
than four hours by a man twice her size.
Guns and women

The following guns are
popular among women who
own guns;

- .38-caliber revolver
- 9mm semiautomatic
- .357-calibur Magnum
revolver

Though she owned a handgun before the rape, Jones, of Calimesa,
rarely took it with her when she left the house. Today, she never
leaves home without her silver and black .38-caliber Smith Wesson
revolver.

“It makes me feel safe,” said Jones, who recently became an
NRA-certified instructor.

She plans to focus on teaching women how to use handguns safely
and effectively for self-defense. Over the past several years she has
taught a few of her female friends — and her three daughters — how
to shoot.

Most everyone she has taught was scared at first, she said. But after
spending a few hours becoming familiar with how a gun works, and
after numerous trips to a range, they settle down and grow
comfortable with it.

“It takes time to gain your confidence . . . to learn that you can be in
control of the gun, and not that the gun is in control of you.”

Applications for gun permits in San Bernardino dropped 35 percent
from 1991 to 1999, while requests for permits in Riverside County
dropped 13 percent during the same period.

During that time, violent crime in San Bernardino and Riverside
counties — including murder, robbery, aggravated assault and forcible
rape — had dropped for eight years in a row.

Mike Raahauge, owner of Raahauge Shooting Enterprises in
Corona, said many women come to conquer their fear of guns.

“That’s a big part of it,” he said.

“The trend of women in shooting took a drastic change here . . . in
the last two-and-a-half, three years,” said Raahauge.

At his range, said Raahauge, most women tend to get more involved
with guns for recreation.

“They might start off with something else in mind, but what it does is it
turns into recreational,” he said.

Like many women, Jones shoots only revolvers. “There’s less kick
and they never misfire,” she said.

Cocking the slide on a semiautomatic handgun and loading the
bullets into the spring-loaded clip can be difficult. Just about anyone
can cock the hammer on a revolver, and the cartridges slide easily
into the chambers, Jones said.

That difficulty hasn’t been lost on gun makers, a number of whom
have followed the lead of Smith Wesson and now make smaller,
lighter, easier-to-use handguns.

Among the features geared toward women — revolvers with
shrouded, internal hammers so they won’t get snagged in a purse.

While internal hammers might be more convenient, said Riley, they
have a downside.

“When you fire a gun that has no hammer, you can’t cock it, which
makes it harder to shoot accurately. The harder you squeeze, the
more inaccurate you will be.”

For Janice Mura, of Crestline, it’s both safety and recreation. Mura
has carried a gun for nearly 10 years. Her father, a former police
officer, taught her how to use the .357-caliber Magnum revolver.

“I was working nights, at a convenience store just outside of L.A.,
and he wanted me to be able to defend myself,” she said.

Since moving to the San Bernardino area, she carries the gun less
often, but shoots and cleans it regularly.

“I’m smarter now. I’ve learned to trust my gut. But if I know I’m going
somewhere I don’t know, I’ll bring it,” said Mura.

Women like Jones and Mura help businesses like Dave’s Indoor Gun
Archery in San Bernardino thrive despite the gun violence described
in the news.

Pauline Moore, who along with her husband, Richard, owns Dave’s,
said women are taking a greater interest in guns.

“Quite a few women come in. We get some bringing the children in to
get accustomed to the guns,” said Pauline Moore.

Richard Moore, who keeps closer tabs on the business, said about
40 percent of his customers, including law enforcement members and
citizens, are women.

Some are single mothers, others are college students, still others are
married and have children, he said.

Whomever he’s teaching, Richard Moore says that learning to use a
gun properly means using it sparingly.

“It’s like a car, just because you have a car in your driveway it doesn’t
mean you need to sit in it 24 hours a day,” he said.

Both Richard Moore and Riley of A-1 Wholesale Guns said women
tend to be more respectful toward guns.

“We find the females coming in to purchase are more concerned with
doing it correctly and getting good training,” said Riley “They don’t
have this macho image; they’re more concerned with doing it right.”

Riley recommended that newcomers go to a range at least once a
week for 10 weeks . . . and hope you never have to pull the trigger
outside the range.

If you must, he advised: “Never pull a gun to scare anybody. It does
not work . . . when you’re gonna pull a gun on a human being, you
better be ready to shoot it and you better be real accurate.”

For those who aren’t going to carry a gun while on the road and are
more interested in home protection, Riley has one recommendation.