Last summer, the oil company my husband works for asked if I
would host a shotgun clinic for new shooters at the annual family picnic. A number of people made the decision to learn
how to shoot clays and fired a shotgun for the first time. I stayed for as long as there was someone who
wanted to learn which ended up being hours!
The ages ranged from children that came to learn with their parents to
people on the verge of retirement. There
was one young boy that kept getting back in line to shoot over and over. To my surprise, many of the new shooters were
young girls. What I also didn’t expect
was how well the younger kids did and that they were striking the clays on
their first shots. At the end of the
clinic everyone was hitting clays. One
of the spectators watching the clinic commented that she didn’t expect the
younger girls to be able to hit the clays as shooting isn’t something she’d
expect a girl to be able to do. Her comments
made me think about stereotypes of female shooters, but more specifically,
younger girls who are learning shoot.
During the mid-19th century, one female shooter stood
above the rest. Annie Oakley’s shooting
skills were often underestimated by her male counterparts. She is an American icon known for her
impressive shooting abilities as a sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Fast
forward to the 21st century, Kim Rhode is a triple Olympic Champion
and in 2012 she tied the world record for hitting 99 out of 100 clays in the international
skeet event at the London Olympics. She
is a daughter, wife, mother and shooter.
Oakley and Rhode both excel at the shooting sports. These two women are separated by over a
hundred years and are connected not solely by their gender, but their
accomplishments as shooters. Annie
Oakley was recorded hunting at age 9 and sold her game to local hotels and
markets to earn money to support her family. Kim Rhode began competing in skeet
at age 10, participated in her first African safari hunt at age 12 and won her
first gold medal at age 17. At that time, she became the youngest female gold
medalist in Olympic shooting. As you
just read and hopefully realized, both Oakley and Rhode started at a young age.
The next generation of female shooters is interested in a
wide range of hobbies, excel at a variety of skills, seek many different educational
goals, and come from different political persuasions. For example, Katelyn Francis is a 16 year old
competitive shooter for STI Firearms. Her
mother noted in regards to an award Katelyn received on November 11, 2014, “A lot of people comment on Katie's page
about how she should be just a normal teenage girl. Well, she is a normal,
polite teenage girl. When her dad started to teach her about guns and shooting,
I was not on board but he promised me that shooting and the gun community would
teach her responsibility and manners.”
Shyanne Roberts, a 10 year old competitive shooter and
second amendment advocate, includes in her interests, aside from shooting,
hanging out with friends, music, and soccer.
In early 2014, Shyanne testified at a New Jersey legislative committee
regarding gun control. Only 9 years old
at the time, she reminded politicians that the proposed magazine ban would
punish her and other athletes instead of the criminals the politicians claimed
they were targeting.
Learning how to shoot teaches you the same life lessons as
any sport: you must train and practice to increase your skills. Shooting sports build character and teach you
responsibility, sportsmanship, dedication, and perseverance. These attributes help young minds develop
discipline which in turn prepares them to face the hurdles of life. Shooting has been passed down from father to
daughter, mother to son and many other family combinations when you throw
grandparents and uncles in the mix. It
gives children a reason to be outdoors, appreciate nature and develop valuable
life skills. Additionally, learning more
about firearms provides the opportunity to discover American history, the Bill of
Rights and how firearms have changed the course of human history.
In 2011, Lindsay McCrum released a pictorial attempt to
describe the modern female shooter in the book “Chicks with Guns”. The National Shooting Sports Foundation
described it like this, “They reside in all regions of the country, come from
all levels of society, and participate seriously in diverse shooting
activities. From policewomen to hunters, ranchers to competition shooters, the
collection of portraits in ‘Chicks with Guns’ defies stereotypes
often associated with aspects of the popular culture of both guns and
women.”
As a shooting instructor, the women I have taught include
mothers, nurses, college students, and athletes. In fact, I am often surprised at the variety
of backgrounds that they bring with them.
These women also have one common concern, teaching their children about
shooting and firearm safety. Luckily,
there are many programs that teach firearm safety to children as early as eight
years old and some, like the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program, teach safety to
children as young as four years old. Moms are especially eager to teach their
daughters about safety, but there is more to this hobby than simply
safety. What I realized last summer, introducing
the next generation of shooters to one of several shooting sports was more than
just sharing safety and respect for firearms. We are sharing our love of an American tradition.
The Shooting
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