Many women grow up in families where they see their mothers pattern a life of service to the family. Activities like hunting or target shooting at the range might seem outside the scope of what most mothers do. But your motivation for using firearms matters. Here is why you should find your personal reason to get out on the range and/or hunt.
Participation Matters
For multiple reasons, it’s important for women to engage in hunting and shooting sports. It’s good for themselves, good for their families—and society as a whole.
First, women should be confident and capable with firearms. This doesn’t mean you have to instruct a class, and it doesn’t mean they must learn every last thing about guns, but it does mean that you should be able to look at the guns in your own home and speak intelligently about them—as well as load, unload and operate them.
If your children tell you, “Mom, Dad left a gun on his dresser,” you should be able to safely handle it, safely clear it or check if it is loaded, and lock it away.
You should also be comfortable teaching your own children about firearm safety and what to do if they come across a gun in someone else’s home. Knowing how to handle situations that you or your children might have to navigate is one of the key reasons that even if you don’t own a gun, you still should understand them!
You also should be capable of using the guns that are in your home to defend yourself and your family. Again, this doesn’t mean you have to become an expert tactician, it just means having a basic level of proficiency with what is in your own home. Just as you can work a security alarm or doorbell camera, you should be able to manipulate the firearms that are in your house.
As we see growing video evidence of just how true it is that law enforcement is often too far away to help you in an emergency, it is more clear than ever that basic skills with firearms can save lives.
Claim your Equality
The second reason women should participate in activities with firearms is so that their children understand that women can be providers of safety. Firearms are the great equalizer, and women should claim that equality!
And again, this doesn’t mean that you would take over home-defense if your husband is there and your family plan is that you stay with your children and get them to a safe place. But reality dictates that you should be prepared for those times that you are the only parent at home.
Gender expectations aside, each adult should be competent enough to carry out whatever task your home-defense plan requires. For the men reading this, consider that your wife is strengthened by learning how to use a firearm. Finding quality instruction that helps her step into the role of protector is not just wise; it should be part of family life. Many couples will also tell you that husbands are not always the best instructors for their wives, or vice versa. For women who have never used firearms or received training, seeing another woman handle and use firearms confidently can inspire confidence in themselves. It is not especially motivating for a small woman who has never used a firearm to watch a 6-foot-tall man do things she has never tried. But show her a woman of similar size and stature, and terms like “proper mechanics” and “fundamentals of marksmanship” begin to feel relevant.
Children seeing women who are capable and confident with firearms breeds future generations of capable and confident human beings. You don’t want your children living in fear, frightened of noises in the night. You want to teach them not to be paralyzed by fear, but rather to use fear as a sign that you can take action and do something to be more secure.
Let Yourself Enjoy Experimenting
The third reason to participate in using firearms is to enjoy the fun that is there to be had. The shooting sports and hunting are full of so many good people and so many opportunities to test yourself.
Often, you’re testing much more than your skill using a firearm; in the shooting sports, you’re testing your memory, your decision-making capacity under stress, and reacting to stimuli outside of your control. It is a great feeling to master a skill or scenario that you might have other times thought overwhelming.
Maybe your goal is to meet more women and build a friend group—firearms or shooting events might just happen to be an avenue to meet others with similar beliefs. Female-focused gun groups tied to various organizations often hold ladies nights and other female-centered events.
More women using firearms also leads to having more households in our country capable of defending themselves from harm. That is a net-positive for society.
Perhaps you need to experiment with hunting seasons and what game you want to cook. I grew up deer hunting and never experienced duck hunting until I was an adult. I was shocked at the differences: I can talk as much as I want and I don’t have to stay out in the cold all day. It’s a win-win! Also, pot pie is one dish I’m always happy to make, and bird hunting took on a new interest with that angle (especially pheasant). Just the type of game and what you can cook might impact your decision to hunt. But the family traditions and building memories with your loved ones is a real reason hunting appeals to so many around the world.
So don’t let your participation in using firearms be dictated by past experiences. Go find what it is in the shooting sports or hunting seasons that appeals to you and enjoy the things you can do!
