FYI (copy below):
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/11/28/nra_still_on_target_with_gun_magazine_aimed_at_women/
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NRA still on target with gun magazine aimed at women
Publication meets growing demand, organization says

By Dana Calvo, Globe Correspondent, 11/28/2003

HOUSTON — The cover of the glossy magazine Woman’s Outlook
each month features an attractive woman in her 30s or 40s
holding a gun and wearing a self-assured, welcoming smile.
“Modern Day Dianas,” reads one headline, referring to the
Greek god of hunting. “Silk & Steel; 650 Years of Women at
Arms” reads another. And this month, the cover promises a
story on “The Woods-Wise Woman.”

The National Rifle Association’s newest publication, a
75-page magazine written for its growing female membership,
has been such a hit since it premiered last January within
the organization that Wal-Mart began carrying it on nearly
10 percent of its newsstands nationwide this month. And
over the next two months the nation’s largest retailer will
expand its sales, featuring Outlook in more than half of
their 2,900 stores.

“We offer news type articles, how-to articles, like how to
fit a shotgun. How do you go about finding a shotgun that’s
right for you? The right boots for hunting, for shooting?”
explained the magazine’s editor, Karen Mehall. “We don’t
have to wear our dad’s hunting clothes anymore.”

NRA officials say Outlook grew out of a demand by its female
membership, a population that is growing, although the
organization says it has no exact statistics.

“We were getting consistent and persistent calls from women
who wanted to get involved in hunting and shooting,” said
Mary Sue Faulkner, director of “Women on Target,” a
two-pronged NRA community service program created in 1999
that offers instructional shooting clinics as well as
hunting excursions. (In 2003, the NRA hosted 143
instructional shooting clinics around the country, a drastic
increase from when the program launched in 2000 with 13
clinics). Faulkner estimates the organization has reached
“about 10,000 women through these two programs,” although
she doesn’t know how many have become members of the NRA as
a result.

“Anecdotally, we’ve seen increasing numbers of women
enrolled in our firearm safety classes and hunting safety
and marksmanship,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
“Sept. 11 was the benchmark for an increase in women’s
interest in self-protection.”

There are four million dues-paying members of the NRA in the
United States (annual membership cost $35), with some of the
highest per capita memberships here in Texas. Encouraging
women to become active participants is part of a strategy of
investing in its future.

“It increases our political gravitas when appealing to a
broad demographic is an admirable goal that every
organization hopes to achieve,” said NRA spokesman Andrew
Arulanandam.

New members get to select a magazine published by the
organization as part of a joining bonus. Hunter and
Rifleman is the NRA’s oldest and most well-known
publication. America’s First Freedom follows national
legislative affairs.

“It makes sure you know who’s fighting for your right to
hunt and bear arms,” Mehall said. But Outlook offers a
different service, and it’s delivered to approximately
50,000 women each month. It calls itself the “Official
Journal for the Women of the National Rifle Association.”

But the potential reach of Wal-Mart is already changing
that. The magazine runs on advertising from companies like
Winchester Ammunition, Kimber pistols, and Taurus revolvers
– companies that signed on before they knew the magazine
could have exponential reach outside the new membership of
the NRA. Wal-Mart is the world’s largest single newsstand,
and 70 percent of the magazines the chain sells are bought
by women. Suddenly, the newsstand price of $3.59 could mean
a nice bump in profits for the publishing wing of the NRA.

Wal-Mart’s decisions about its newsstand content became more
high-profile last May when company officials pulled three
men’s magazines off its newsstands. They said Maxim, Stuff,
and FHM carried sexually explicit images that were not
compatible with Wal-Mart’s priorities. But Outlook, a
Wal-Mart spokeswoman said, offers wholesome articles and
emphasizes responsibility, and they have placed it in the
sporting section.

“I would prefer it be placed with mainstream women’s
magazines, which we think it is,” said head of publishing
for the NRA, Joe Graham. “It’s designed to provide women’s
points of view on things that might be unfamiliar to women
today, like selecting hunting clothes, a self-defense
firearm, protecting the firearm with children in the house,”
he said. “By and large, it appears we’re dead on.”