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Old July 3, 2012, 07:01 PM   #28
Waldog
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 28, 2007
Location: SOCAL
Posts: 359
Here's my story; I have been an avid shooter my entire life. I started my kids shooting at a very early age, about 6-8. I could never get my wife interested. In fact when we got married, 35 years ago, she stated, "There will be no guns in this house!" With that I countered, " I have had these guns far longer than you so learn to live with it!" Once she found out that I was a safe and responsible owner and that most gun owners were not toothless, knuckle-draggin', slugs, she relented. I got my kids competing in local Junior Small Bore matches. She attended regularly and enjoyed seeing all the kids following safety rules and obeying the Range Safety Officer/Match Director.

Through the years I tried to get her to participate with no luck. Many years later when we were both 55, I was visiting a friend in Arizona. He is a licensed Class 3 collector. He set up a machine gun shoot with his fellow collectors for me and my son. My wife tagged along. She shot several MG's ranging from a water cooled Browning to a WW I Lewis, including a Thompson and several others. My friend asked me if my wife would like to shoot a hand gun. I told him to ask her. He approached my wife and asked where she commented, "I have never even held a handgun but I'll try." He took her to the side and gave some basic instruction on safety and sight alignment. He had some steel plates set up at about 20 yards. She was shooting a CZ 9mm. Every single time my wife pulled the trigger she would get a loud CLANG when she hit the plate. She got tickled by the CLANG and never missed. My buddy asked, "Are you sure you have never done this before? She never flinched and never missed. She shot about 30 rounds.

Now, fast forward about 3 months. We were sitting at the dinner table and my son and I were talking about the next IDPA match. During the conversation, my wife piped in and stated, "Shooting that steel plate and getting that CLANG was really fun! Kind of like, instant gratification!". This conversation encouraged me to find a WOMAN instructor to teach my wife. To make a long story short, I found "Babes With Bullets" on-line. This is a ALL WOMANS pistol action shooting camp. The instructors are woman Champions like, Lisa Munson, Kay Miculek, Sheila Brey, Kippi Leatham and , several others.

My wife's sewing machine was stolen out of our car. We had to buy a replacement. She found a machine that cost about what a nice African Double Barrel rifle would cost. I told her that if I buy here this machine she had to do something for me with no questions asked. She agreed. Two months later I told here she was going to a womans shooting camp. The color drained from her face. I reminded her that we made a contract and she reluctanly agreed to go to the camp. I sent her to camp and when I picked her up 4 days later, I had a transformed shooting partner. She absolutley had a ball! She regularly shoots IDPA and USPSA matches. During one match when my son and two daughters were shooting she commented to me that, " I think it's really neat I can be 55 years old and take up a new sport I can share with my family!"

My oldest daughter and I are NRA Instructors. Most or our classes have been 75-80% woman. Most woman respond better to another woman in a firearms class. Based on my experience, all woman class are essential for many interested woman.
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