By Frank Miniter, NRA Media
When NRA Certified Pistol Instructor Angela Vincent, from the Youngstown, Ohio area, is asked on this episode of the NRA’s The Armed Citizen Podcast to talk about the empowerment she sees growing in the individuals in her all-women classes, she said, “I wish I could show you, but I have goosebumps on my arms because … one of the things that I took away when I took my first firearms class was I felt so empowered. I didn’t feel afraid. I felt like I could protect myself. I felt like if I continue to travel this path that I can protect myself. And, you know, I am a single mom ... . And I just thought, if I am ever in a situation, What am I going to do?”
This feeling of empowerment soon led her—now about a decade later—to become an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor.
In the years since, she has taught thousands of women in Ohio how to defend themselves with firearms. Her classes, which people can find at NRAInstructors.org, typically book up fast.
“Enrollment in my classes over the last decade has been remarkably consistent,” said Vincent. “You know, every time I put a class on the calendar, I fill it and I have to schedule a second class.”
She explained that a dozen years ago she shot a firearm for the first time. “So, someone took a picture of me shooting. I had a Walther .380 and it was the first time I’d ever shot. And I looked at myself in that picture and I said to myself, “What are you doing?” Like, not even having firearms experience or any firearms training, I could tell that how I was holding that gun, how I was standing, was all wrong. So, after that, I took a class. It was a seven-week class here in my area in northeastern Ohio. I learned so much in those seven weeks that I immediately became hooked. So, I started volunteering at this seven-week class as just a helper. And then I got interested in teaching other women because I saw there was such a need for women to learn how to handle and shoot firearms safely. So, fast forward a couple of years, I got certified through the NRA for several disciplines and the rest is kind of history with my classes.”
Angela Vincent focuses solely on teaching women to safely shoot, carry concealed, and to potentially defend themselves. By focusing on this growing demographic in the shooting sports, she has attracted local attention.
“I’ve had a lot of support with our local media and they’ve come and they’ve done stories on my classes; they’ve done interviews with me and that really helps get the word out,” said Angela Vincent. “And then, of course, word of mouth is important, too.”
“If they take my Women on Target program, they go on to take my Basics of Pistol Shooting class and then, after that, they go on to join my local A Girl & A Gun chapter,” said Vincent. “I’ve had mothers and daughters come in together. I have seen friends, a lot of friends; they want to do it together. They want to do, you know, the buddy system and so I have seen pairs of ladies come in, but a lot of times it’s friends, but women, which is very surprising to me in a good way, they are very open to coming by themselves. So, they’re coming into a classroom full of other women that they don’t know to learn how to handle and shoot a firearm, which is intimidating in and of itself … . Everybody is just so willing to just jump in there and learn.
“We do teams inside the classroom and by the end of the day, not only are these women now more educated on firearm safety, but they’ve gained some friends, too.”
For Angela Vincent, the majority of the people coming to her classes are middle to late-middle age. “I’ve had a few in their 20s and 30s, but predominantly my students are of the middle-aged variety. And the reasons that they’re taking this class vary from one end of the spectrum to the other. And it’s really interesting because we do have conversation time before I actually begin the class. And I want to get to know why are they in my class? Why are you here? What is your goal? What do you want to learn? What are you expecting to learn? And at the end of every class, I ask, ‘Have your expectations been met or exceeded or did I not meet your expectations at all?’ And every time it is, you’ve exceeded our expectations just because of the breadth of the class itself. So, and circling back to why the women want to take the class varies from being safe in the home and possibly wanting to get their concealed handgun license.”
Vincent is also careful to ask if her students have ever shot a firearm and if they already have a gun. “Surprisingly,” said Vincent, “a lot of women have a gun that their husband or their children or a family member purchased for them and they never shot it before. So, they’re coming because they’re afraid of this gun because they’ve never shot before, but yet, they were handed this gun as a gift and they don’t know what to do with it. Those are my favorite students because they are like sponges and they really have a solid goal and that is to learn how to use this firearm that somebody gave to them.”
But when she was asked whether the gun was thoughtfully bought for them or whether a husband of someone simply bought what they thought she should have, she laughed.
“It’s funny because what I’ve learned, and you’re absolutely right in exactly what you’re saying,” said Angela Vincent. “These ladies are getting guns from husbands, family members, but they’re not buying this woman a gun for her. You know, they’re buying it because they think this is what she should have. And so, I have ladies that do have strength issues in their hands. Some have mobility issues, which is very important if you are not familiar or practiced with shooting something say like a 9 mm … because of the recoil … and so these people buy these ladies these guns with very good intentions, but the ladies aren’t ready for that yet. And so that’s why they’re my favorite because we have a mutual goal now. It’s to get them shooting safely, but then to have them graduate to be able handle firearms that are suited to them.”
In the end, she describes a camaraderie as her students continue into the American gun culture. They are empowered and have found likeminded individuals to shoot with in a shared experience that helps them feel safer and to become more independent. (Angela Vincent can be reached via email at [email protected].)
