CRPA Jan-Feb 2016

The
Importance of
to the
Shooting
Sports
by Chip Lohman
Chip Lohman, a retired Marine
and pistol instructor, is
the former editor of Shooting
Sports USA and now serves
the NRA as Deputy Director of
Publications.
Reprinted with permission
from www.NRAFamily.org
To steal a line from the
1968 Virginia Slims
ad campaign, women
shooters “have come a long
way” since the early days of
shooting sports.
In her 1988 book Fair
Game, A Lady’s Guide to
Shooting Etiquette, Englishwoman
Piffa Schroder
wrote, “Shooting was considered
to be an unladylike
pastime. In 1882, Queen
Victoria herself had written
in a letter to her daughter,
that although it was a
perfectly acceptable for a
woman to be a spectator,
only ‘fast women’ shot.”
More recently, the National
Shooting Sports Foundation
reported that “The face of
America’s target shooters is
changing. New target shooters—those
who have taken
up the sport in the last five
years—are younger, female
and urban when compared
to established target shooters—those
participating for
more than five years.”
The number of women
shooters has grown steadily
thanks to trailblazers like
Ruby Fox, America’s only
woman to earn an Olympic
Pistol medal (1984
Los Angeles Games). Kim
Rhode has medaled in Shotgun
for five consecutive
Olympics and has secured
a slot for the 2016 Games
in Rio, and recently retired
Master Sergeant Julia
(Watson) Carlson won the
overall, shoulder-to-shoulder
National Service Rifle
Championships at Camp
Perry in 2014.
In 2009, the percentage
of female NRA-classified
shooters was less than 10
percent. Industry sources
now report that 37 percent
of new target shooters are
female, compared to 22 percent
of established target
shooters. The number of
NRA-certified women instructors
has reached 9,343
or about 8 percent of the
total count of 122,394, and
796 women out of 7,206 are
NRA-certified coaches.
As recently as 2013, a
Pew Research Center survey
found that there was a
substantial gender gap when
it came to gun ownership:
Men were three times as
likely to purchase a gun as
women (37 percent versus
12 percent). But just two
years later, 78 percent of retailers
queried reported that
they have experienced an
increase in women customers.
“Interest in the shooting
sports” and a “Desire
for personal protection”
are the common justifications
given by women
entering the world of
firearms ownership.
As the largest buyer
of firearms, even the U.S.
Department of Defense
acknowledges the trend
toward more women customers
in their current recompete
of the U.S. Service
Pistol (XM17) contract, for
which the Beretta M9 has
supported American servicemen
and women since
1985. The XM17 Request
for Information (RFI) solicits
modular systems with
a “slimmer design,” recognizing
that Polymer pistols
with replaceable grips
have become increasingly
popular as lightweight and
ergonomic alternatives,
particularly among women.
As an incentive for industry
to devote resources
to the growing number of
female customers, NRA
Publications unveiled a
new category for the Golden
Bullseye Awards during
this year’s Annual Meetings
& Exhibits—The Woman’s
Innovation Product of the
Year. American Rifleman
and Shooting Illustrated
presented their inaugural
version of this prestigious
award to EAA for their
Witness Pavona semi-auto
pistol, and Hunter Safety
System was recognized for
their innovative HSS-Contour
Harness by American
Hunter. Perhaps in re-
18
JAN. / FEB.