Jessie and Natalie at NRA Annual Meeting 2012.

Not only is she a champion shooter and a super cool chick, but it turns out Jessie Duff is a fantastic gun rights ambassador to the media. Below are a couple of clips from some of Jessie’s recent appearances on FOX News. Be sure to check out her Facebook page and Twitter feed as well (@Jessie_Duff) for updates on what she is up to and her commentary on current events. If you are not familiar with Jessie yet, check out the bio from her website and then head over there to learn more.

Jessie’s demonstration of several common firearms on the Hannity show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jessie’s interview with Judge Jeanine:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Keep up the wonderful work, Jessie! You make us proud.

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The Girls Gun Getaway featuring several female gun bloggers and pro shooters. (photo: Julie Golob)

Most women start writing blogs to inspire other women, or talk about themselves, or if we’re all honest a bit of both. But what is it we are trying to inspire other women to do? Protect themselves, to be sure, but there’s another element of our community we can’t overlook and that we, as a group, can do so much more with.

I get teased on a fairly regular basis about being a “tough independent woman,” and while the cliché is overdone there is something to be said for the label itself, the problem is that a lot of women seem to be interpreting it in a way that only harms them in the long run. Being tough and independent isn’t about being angry, it isn’t about rebelling against the status quo but rather about being confident in yourself and in your actions.

While shooting is a start towards confidence, it’s not an end. There are a lot of other things we can do to feel better about ourselves and our lives. Most of it’s mental, of course, positive thinking and feeling good about ourselves, but there are other things we can do, other activities we can partake in, to continue an upward climb towards true inner strength.

Shooting does several things for us, the first of us which is (for many) pushing the boundaries of our comfort zone. Having an explosion detonate in front of our face is not something we are conditioned to handle, which is why for many shooting can be perceived as “scary” before they have tried it. Participating in an activity we might not have expected to participate in, and then training to become good at it, requires a lot of self-confidence, which is why shooting pushes us in that direction every day.

Also, as has been pointed out many times, shooting gives us a sense of equality, a sense of safety, a sense of being in control of ourselves. That sense of control is empowering, and is something we should seek in other aspects of our life. This, along with the “tough woman” image of shooting guns, gives us a more positive self-image, which is a powerful thing.

Participating in fitness activities and other sports can have the same effects shooting does. Since I started shooting I’ve taken up weight-lifting and started studying nutrition and trying to eat right. It has made a huge difference in my self-esteem and helped me to realize the extent of control I have over myself, much as shooting does. I would encourage every woman shooter not to stop there, but to continue to step outside of her comfort zone and find other activities that energize and empower her to be the best she can.

When you start shooting, you adopt a lifestyle, and if you embrace that lifestyle there are no boundaries to what you can achieve.

Let us know what it is that you love about shooting below in the comments section.

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Armed and Female by Paxton Quigley

It’s a re-vamp of a book she wrote in ’93, simply titled Armed and Female.  Just like GG, she’s all about empowering women in the area of self-defense.  Here’s some of what she has to say on the becoming and “armed female” from her website:

If you’re a woman, I want to encourage and inspire you to step out of character, abandon age-old bonds of male dependence, and break free from the powerlessness, fear and depression that has plagued our gender for so long.

If you’re a woman reading this, chances are the men in your life have already tried to make you more pro-active in personal safety — because they love you and care about you. They may feel an old-fashioned responsibility to protect you wherever you go — but of course, that’s no longer appropriate nor practical.

Pretty great, eh?  Ladies, if you’ve ever been interested in purchasing a firearm for protection, her book might be a good place to start; men, if you have a woman if your life who you’ve been trying to get interested in firearms, you might want to check it out, too!

One of the best things about her interview this morning was that she, like us, emphasized that safety and information come first with self-defense and guns.  Check out her interview on Fox News from this morning by clicking here or copying & pasting this link into your browser: https://video.foxnews.com/v/4452057/this-years-must-have-accessory-a-gun/

You can also see her give some self-defense tips on the “Fox & Friends: After the Show Show” by clicking here or copying & pasting this link into your browser: https://video.foxnews.com/v/4452177/after-the-show-show-honor-restored

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