‘Chicks with Guns’: Some 15 million US women pack heat
Posted on September 28, 2011 by Natalie in News
We are SO excited about this book! Soon I’ll have an interview with Lindsay McCrum to post for you, but until then, check out this article from TODAY.com and hit up Amazon.com for your copy of Chicks with Guns!
By Laura T. Coffey
TODAY.com contributor
updated 9/28/2011 9:42:22 AM ET
Pop quiz: Name one accessory that grandmothers, moms, girls, wealthy socialites, middle-class females and low-income women might be likely to own — and cherish — all across America.
If you answered “a gun,” you’d be correct.
Based on polling research and gun-sale statistics, an estimated 15 million to 20 million women in the United States own their own firearms. Dozens of those heat-packing women are documented in “Chicks with Guns,” a new book by photographer Lindsay McCrum that is sure to challenge almost anyone’s assumptions about gun ownership.
“Their numbers are really high but their profile is actually really low,” said McCrum, who spent three and a half years capturing artistic and arresting portraits of women with their weapons of choice.
“I was so surprised by the variety and breadth and diversity of these women,” McCrum said. “There are so many stereotypes about guns, mostly derived from popular culture, but the reality is so much more complex and varied than you can imagine.”
The Vendome Press
Greta, the young woman pictured on the cover of “Chicks with Guns,” received her first gun as an infant and completed a hunter’s safety course to earn her lifetime hunting license before her 10th birthday.
“Chicks with Guns” reveals just how true that is. The book features nearly 80 portraits and captions in which women describe the role of guns in their lives in their own words. It quickly becomes apparent that rich women, poor women, young women, old women, athletic women, sedentary women and a fair number of confident girls possess guns for reasons that are peculiarly their own.
“I learned two main lessons while working on this book,” said McCrum, who divides her time between New York City and California when she isn’t traveling for work. “One is that on the subject of guns, nobody is neutral. And the other is that when you get outside of the blue-state cities, everybody has a gun.”
Some women in the book work in law enforcement. Some work on ranches. Some relish the thrill of hunting birds or big game. Some are accomplished competition shooters. Some are fiercely concerned about protection and self-defense. Some have guns that have been passed down in their families for generations and have become cherished heirlooms.
Some shoot because the activity is a natural outgrowth of their relationships with their fathers, husbands or brothers. Some chuckle because they’re much better shots than the men in their lives. And some delight over bringing specific guns home because the weapons make them swoon.
“I own a gold .50-cal Desert Eagle with tiger stripes, one of the largest, most powerful pistols out there,” a Minnesota resident named Theresa writes in her caption in the book. “Any girl would understand when I explain it was something I saw and HAD TO HAVE. Some women experience that feeling with clothes, some with jewelry. For me it was with a large firearm.”
To read the entire article, click here:
https://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44690575/ns/today-today_people/#.ToNnQ08a0co
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I got excited for a second. I thought it said 15 million women were in heat. I am still glad they are carrying guns for protection though. Many of my best students are women.
You beat me to it – I was going to link this very positive article to you!