Member Gender and Ownership

Are you a

  • Female?

    Votes: 4 4.1%

  • Male?

    Votes: 94 95.9%
  • Total voters
    98
  • Poll closed .
Yep, I just recommended Kathy's website and book to a new (returning) woman shooter. As a much younger person she'd done a lot of shooting rimfire rifles with her dad and brother. Now mid-aged, she just recently got interested in handguns and went out and got her CHP.

She had her choice between a Beretta in .32 and a Colt Government (from her father). We took the Beretta to the range and it was FTF city. That shook her confidence. I had along a S&W M60 (.357) and a 686. She fired the 686 with full-house loads and the M60 with .38s. At the end of the day, she announced she was going to go out and get a 686. I explained that mine had had an action job, bobbed hammer, and was DAO (at some substantial cost). She was undeterred. She also tried a P226 in 9 and a Colt Commander. Still preferred the 686.

After the earlier discussion, I went back to my FOIA'd CHP data from Virginia Firearms Transaction Center (2010 data, before the bulk of the "big boom"). The breakdown was 15% women and 85% men. Closer to the older numbers and not as high as the current estimates of 26%. It's be cool if we really picked up an additional 11% women owners.
 
I lurked here for many years lol.

I think, as I know some people in this situation; many women own and carry guns, enjoy shooting just the same as men. Many tho, in work and social circles it is taboo to associate with firearms.... Many of my female friends love them, but will not allow even a photo with them and a firearm in the same frame. They won't click Like on any post with a firearm....
I have one friend that works with people of a certain political view, anything gun related or not favored by their view would be a death blow to her job. It has nothing to do with her duties or the service this institution provides. It's merely the prevailing atmosphere of her workplace....
 
I've been a member here for a little less than a decade and not always active. I have noticed a marked increase in posts made by openly/claiming to be female or signing with a female name in the last year. It was a real rarity to see a post by a female besides Pax the first few years I was here. Probably half related to buying a gift of some sort.
 
male, joined the forum in 2006.

I don't know how it would relate to the statistics you are looking for, but there is another category of female gun owner that you won't find in the kind of data you are looking at.

Those are the women that don't go to gun stores to buy guns, don't take training classes, don't belong to organized groups, or online gun forums.

Women who learned guns and shooting from family members, grew up with them, but are not enthusiasts to the level of competing, or joining clubs, etc.

Call them "country girls" or something else, you won't find them in buyer, or training data. Some of them will be in the CCW permit data, most won't, but they do have a gun, or maybe 3.

And a pretty good idea, generally, of how to use it!
:D

I have a wife, and a daughter like that. Neither is especially interested in guns, but they know what to do, if the need arises. My daughter regularly shot better than her boyfriend..:D
 
I caught that story when it aired. Certainly a refreshing change.

Although it seems that a lot of law enforcement officers are supportive of 2A issues and civilian ownership, in a very general sense, the further up the chain of command they rise the more they are compelled to a take a stand against things like Constitutional carry.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police is openly hostile to civilian ownership. Here in Virginia, the Superintendent of the VSP is frequently tasked with lobbying in favor of more restrictive gun laws.

The issue of Black citizens arming themselves, legally, still gives pause to many here in the South. Many of us forget the first gun control laws were written with the intention of restricting gun ownership among newly freed slaves during the Jim Crow era.

In writing up her thesis, my student noted that the typical gun owner was a middle-aged, working to middle class, white male. I told her that sounded like a stereotype and her response, "Doc its a stereotype for a reason."
 
I like 44 Amp's point... My ex and oldest daughter fall into that class...
My Ex shot better than many men... But had no real interest in guns outside of defense and occasional informal practice
 
44 Amp knows what's up. That's where I'm at, I've never NOT had guns. Once I started working in the industry I started spending time on forums and at ranges and eventually became an instructor before I remembered I don't like people and I'm better suited to interpersonal relationships which allow me to hang up them if necessary.
 
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