Vicki and I have been friends since Girl’s Guide began and I am proud to have had the chance to work with her, via NRA Women’s Network, on this video. There are some pretty incredible people that populate the world of firearms, but I have to say that Vicki is one of the most generous and big-hearted ones you could possibly find. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as we enjoyed making it.

You just finished reading Family First: The Day That Changed It All on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

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.

You just finished reading Jessie Duff Is On A Mission on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Niki Jones, founder of the all-female shooting group, the Austin Sure Shots, is one of the coolest chicks I have met in my time as a shooter.  I asked her to whip up a little guest blog to tell us about her time at Gunsmoke for an episode of American Guns on the Discovery Channel (Weds 9/8pm).

I recently appeared on this season’s third episode of American Guns on the Discovery Channel. The whole experience, from beginning to end, was extremely fun and very exciting! 

When I found out I had the opportunity to fly to Colorado to see about trading in my (in)famous “Snow Queen” AR-15 for a bigger, badder AR-10, it was bittersweet. I wanted to bring back something for the girls of the Sure Shots (my women’s pistol league in Austin, TX) that we didn’t already have. We already had plenty of AR-15s, since about a dozen of us participated in our Sure Shots AR-15 Build Project where we built our own rifles, each one as unique as its owner. But we didn’t have any AR-10s among us, and a bunch of the girls had been saying they’d like to get into some long-range precision shooting.

Though I knew that sacrificing the Snow Queen for the good of the league was the right decision, I still had a pit in my stomach at the idea of being without her. I mean, I had built her myself, each and every part chosen by me to make my dream gun (Lightweight 16″ Moly barrel, free-floated and coated; POF railed hand guard, coated; Battle Comp compensator; Spikes Tatical lower, coated; Bravo Company Gunfighter charging handle; NIB Bolt Carrier Group; Ergo Stock; MagPul Grip; MagPul BAD Lever; MagPul Rail Sling Attachment; MagPul Gen III Sling; Troy BUIS; AImpoint Pro red dot optic). The Snow Queen was truly a labor of love, and it didn’t hurt that she shoots like a dream either.

So, I packed my bags and headed off to Denver to visit GunSmoke, Snow Queen in tow. I had seen American Guns before and loved the show, and I was curious to see what the Wyatts were like in real life. Well, they could not have been nicer. The first person I met was Renee, when I walked into GunSmoke and she was at the counter. She was super friendly and got really excited when she learned I had started a women’s pistol league that in only a year and a half had over 150 members. Rich was the same. I didn’t know he was such a huge supporter of women and guns, but it was clear almost immediately that my “cause” was close to his heart, and that this deal would happen.

The producers, who were as equally as nice and welcoming as the Wyatts, had told me to just be myself and walk in and negotiate like it was any other regular deal. Easier said than done—having giant lights and cameras pointing at you is nerve-wracking, to say the least. But when I described to Rich what I wanted in a precision rifle, he was very receptive. And when I threw in that I also wanted a grenade launcher, both Rich and Renee were DELIGHTED! I could tell I had ‘em…

I had to place a trade-in value on my gun, so I went with $3,000 due to all of the Snow Queen’s top-of-the-line parts, perfect custom paint job, and all-around uniqueness. When he said he’d give me $2K for the Snow Queen and that the AR-10 would be $10K, I didn’t balk TOO much—I expected that he would want the gun he builds the Sure Shots to be top-of-the-line as well, and I knew that AR-10 parts are not as varied and available as an AR-15. But, we couldn’t stop there. I’m originally from New York, and New Yorkers are born negotiating! So instead of accepting the $8K difference, I came back with $7K. When he said he just couldn’t do that, I bluffed that I was going to walk—but in all honesty, I wasn’t leaving there without sealing the deal! I’d come too far and already committed to my mission. Luckily, he didn’t let me walk out, and he agreed to $7K. It was ON.

Happy girl.

They took a couple weeks building my gun, and then I flew back for the “reveal” of the Sure Shots’ AR-10. I had assumed it would happen in the store, so once I realized the American Guns producers had me heading toward the mountains, there was a great feeling of adventure and excitement! I pulled up to an old quarry in the middle of nowhere. The American Guns crew was waiting at the top of a cliff, and they wouldn’t let me near the edge to see what was down below. The suspense was killing me!

FINALLY, the moment had come. I was about to finally see the AR-10 I’d been dreaming about! Standing on top of that cliff, Rich, Renee, and Paige presented me with the most INSANE rifle I’d ever seen… and it was WHITE! It looked like the Snow Queen on steroids! And like the Snow Queen, it had some black accents, including a badass scope accurate to 700 yards, and even some little black cross-bones on the scope brackets! But the pièce de résistance was the grenade launcher I’d asked for! Big and black and badass, it sat underneath the rail and just took the rifle to the next level! I knew the Sure Shots would die when they saw it!

Rich coaches Niki on the course they have built for her.

Once I was finished freaking out over the rifle, it was time for them to reveal what was over the cliff. They had set up a full tactical course for me, complete with exploding targets, each of which said “SURE SHOTS, Austin, Texas” and had a life-sized pinup girl beside it! But first, I had to take a long-range shot. So into the prone position I went, right there on the edge of the cliff. From experience with these rifles, I was expecting a much bigger impact when I pulled the trigger, but this gun was smooth… no recoil at all! I was in love. Then it was onto the tac course, and it was a blast! Rich took me through it—we literally ran down the side of the cliff, and I had to shoot targets whenever he spotted one and called it out. And the targets exploded! At this point I could tell by the way the cameramen were shooting us that they were going to be able to totally capture the action and the excitement, so that was one less thing for me to worry about!

Then, when I thought it couldn’t get any more fun, Renee called out on the two-way radio from where she stood on the cliff that there was a cluster of targets around the corner we were coming up on, and to “Use the grenade launcher!”… so that’s what I did. Switched over to the launcher, and let one fly. HUGE explosion! So much fun. I mean, how can it NOT be fun to blow things up in the middle of Nowhere, Colorado on a random Tuesday afternoon?

And, then it was over. And I flew back to Texas. I kept the news of my adventure under wraps until close to the time my episode aired because I really wanted to surprise the Sure Shots, and to say they were surprised is an understatement! And the Wyatts have kept in touch—Renee and I have been emailing, and Rich called in during our episode’s viewing party to say hello to all the girls! I’m hoping Renee and Paige will come out to Austin and shoot with us soon. All in all, it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Thanks Niki! And keep up the amazing work!

You just finished reading Niki Jones: My Day At Gunsmoke on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Local Gun Shops Target Profits From Women

Read entire post here: https://www.wfae.org/wfae/1_87_316.cfm?action=display&id=7643

Scott Graf
Monday August 8, 2011

Pink and purple handguns at Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte.  Experts say colored pistols are just one example of how gun and accessory manufacturers are responding to women’s interest in guns.

Three new shooting ranges have recently or will soon open in the towns of Concord, Cornelius and Mooresville.  Despite the slow economy, the owners of those businesses are confident they’ll do well.  A big reason why?  Each say they plan to profit from women who are buying guns like never before.

In the new shooting range at Eagle Gun in Concord, shots boom through thick glass the separates the range from the rest of the shop.  On the other side of the glass, Sharon Skoff  fires her handgun 60 times at a paper target a few yards down the range, missing on only three.

“I just refuse to be a victim if I possibly can,” Skoff says.  “I actually went and got my concealed permit a couple months ago so I can carry.”

Skoff is a 47-year-old flight attendant.  She’s been shooting for about a year because she’s scared.

“If you listen to the news at night, all you hear are women in parking lots… someone coming up, or threatening them for their purse or threatening their life for their purse or threatening their life or raping (them).”

As we talk, Skoff’s Louis Vuitton bag hangs by her side, just a few inches above her sandals, sparkly ankle bracelet and red toenails.  She would have seemed out of place when Mike Threadgill first opened Eagle Gun 11 years ago.  Not anymore.

‘The ladies are bringing in a lot of the money for the business,” Threadgill says.  “And if they do that then I want to cater to ‘em.”

Rachel Parsons is a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association.  She says what’s happening at Eagle Gun is common.  Gun and gun accessory manufacturers also starting to focus more on women because they’re a “huge emerging market”.

“You see firearms being developed that have smaller grips to fit a woman’s hand,” Parsons says.  “Maybe they’re pink, or maybe they have pearl grips.  And they’re a little bit less intimidating.”

Parsons says it’s difficult to quantify how many women are buying guns.  The NRA doesn’t keep track of its members’ gender and states like North Carolina don’t ask ‘male or female’ on their gun permit requests.  But anecdotal evidence is abundant.  Take the National Shooting Sports Foundation.  It says about half the participants in its program for new shooters are women.

Read the entire post here:

https://www.wfae.org/wfae/1_87_316.cfm?action=display&id=7643

You just finished reading Local Gun Shops Target Women on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Natalie Foster: Tell me how you got involved in the world of firearms.

Doreen Garrett: Well, I’m the oldest of four children and my dad would take me hunting with him. I think my mom just wanted to get me out of the house as a teenager {laughs}. We hunt in northern New York and the snow is usually pretty deep and I had my great grandmother’s firearm, actually. I was hunting with my dad out in the Tug Hill Plateau and I’m short and I fell in the mud and snow and I had all this junk in the end of my barrel. I had nothing with me there to get it out so I had to walk all the way back to hunting camp in my nice electric socks because I’m kind of a fair weather hunter {laughs}. I was upset that I had to walk back to the hunting camp and there was nothing there. My father came back and I said, “How do you get this stuff out of the gun?” I, of course, did something really stupid and put a stick up the end of the barrel because I thought I could dig it out. That was probably not the smartest thing to do. I ended up going home and looking through some gun junk, so to speak, that my mother had inherited from my grandfather. He was in WWII 10th Mountain Division and they were always in the snow. I’ve done a lot of research on it now, but they had a device called a ‘thong’ and it was a chain with a weight on the end of it that they carried around in the field. They’d drop that down from the breech out the end of the barrel to take out obstructions. So I started carrying that in a shoe polish tin when I was hunting. My dad’s buddies were all like, “Wow, that’ s kind of a cool thing – something to take with you.” I was a junior in high school at the time. I loved engineering. I wanted to be a draftsman. My dad had a company that had a woman draftsman at it and I would apprentice under her during the summers and that summer I designed components that would mimic what that drop-through chain with the weight on it would do. I asked my dad to take me to the SHOT Show in 1985 – he was going to look for business for his company because he made little widgets for the archery industry and different things. I talked him in to letting me go and do some market research and see if my concept was viable.  I got a 10 x 10 booth at the 1985 SHOT Show and I got to the door and they wouldn’t let me in {laughs} because I was not 18. I was 16 at the time and I remember them stopping me and going, “Where are you going little lady?” And I said, “Um, to my booth,” and they said, “No you’re not, you have to be 18 to get in the show.” So my mother came to the rescue and we went back up to the hotel room and – it was the 80s – the hair went higher and the heels went on and there was lots of makeup and I walked back in to the show. So that was my first SHOT Show in 1985 – I had 8 prototypes at that show and ended up with two orders from two of the worlds largest distributors at the time. They each ordered 500 units, I think. My dad came back to the booth and said, “How ya doing?” I said, “We’ve gotta make these things!” {laughs} I went home and hired two or three friends from my high school and we started making gun cleaning kits on the kitchen table. That was 27 years ago now, so it’s been an interesting road. It was challenging being young in a male dominated industry. I think more so age, now, than gender, as the industry has grown and there are more women now playing roles in our industry. It’s kind of refreshing; and I’ve had the opportunity over the last 27 years to see and witness that change. But for me it’s always been an age thing: “Oh, when I turn 25 they’ll listen to me or when I turn 30 they’ll take me seriously.” Then when I hit 40 and realized that sometimes maybe it wasn’t about age and that it might be about gender {laughs}. But I was very fortunate, too, to have parents that always told me and my siblings that there’s nothing that you can not do. So I think sometimes, you know, having that motivation is important.

NF: That story is incredible! It’s so inspiring! It also speaks so much to what women can do when they put their minds to it.  So when did OTIS become the OTIS of today?

DG: {laughs} Over 27 years of hard work it became the OTIS of today.  I did develop the mission statement that the company still lives by back in 1985. It’s just about setting goals and making a quality product that you can stand behind and that doesn’t fail in the field. The product – the quality and the customer service and everything that our mission statement stands for -  is what has allowed our company to grow to what it is today. We’ve been very blessed in growing this company. Sometimes little quirky things happen that you would not want to go through, but if you don’t go through those challenges growing a business then you don’t become the business person that you are.   Take every learning experience as, “Well, okay, we won’t do that again.” And go forward. I would say the change really came when we started doing military shows back in the late ’90s because some of the Marines were buying our kits from LL Bean. We private labeled for LL Bean back early on for their high quality gun cleaning kits  that were compact enough. At one of the shows, the Marines came to us and said, “We would like for OTIS to develop cleaning kits for each specific weapon.” So we did that and we were being used by the Special Ops and the Marines. And then when 2001 came around and we went into theater and people in NATO and the US Army saw what Special Ops had there was a snowball effect on our military contracting and our long term contracts. That really has bolstered the growth of the company over the last 10 years as being a defense contractor. And I’m proud to say that next week we’ll be going to Columbus to receive the Gold Award for 100 percent on-time delivery and quality for the US Military, which is not achieved by many vendors. We’re proud to be on the front lines with the men and women. We have Ft. Drum right here in our back yard – our 10th Mountain Division where the President of the United States is visiting as we speak. And we have a lot of guys that will come back and visit the assembly line and the factory and thank the women for making the high quality product that may have saved their life. It gets very emotional but I think it’s also what drives us to come to work every day because we know that that product going out the door might save a soldier’s life. And it might be someone’s father or brother or mother that is going to depend on that product working. So the value proposition in that market is very very strong and we take it very seriously. And then all of our other markets like law enforcement and border patrol and our commercial market receive that same benefit because that product is of the same quality.

NF: Wow. I’m in awe. Your stories are so amazing and it’s incredible, too, to hear how you care so much about your products and how they really do affect people’s lives – and literally save some in some cases. It’s pretty profound, I think.

DG: It is and it always amazes me now how many lives we’ve touched and how many people I meet out and about who thank the company and the family for doing what we do. You know, that’s all we do – gun cleaning. And we take it very seriously. I think if you have a niche and you do something better than anyone else can… not that you can guarantee success… but you have that niche and you build upon it.

NF: You started out with your grandmother’s gun – that’s not something a whole lot of women can say. So were guns kind of a legacy in your family?

DG: You know, I didn’t think of it back then or even now, but I guess I was always around when my dad would bring the guns back from hunting and he would clean them.  People invest in guns today because they know they can hand them down to their children and in some instances it won’t disappear like money in the bank. They do appreciate and become valuable. I think the maintenance aspect of taking care of those heritage-type items, to be able to hand them down to the next generation, is sometimes just as important because I think for most people, at least for a lot of people in the industry, their fondest memories are hunting with their grandfather or dad. So any time they pull that gun out of the safe they’re reminiscing about those times, so the gun becomes something special. It was a unique experience to have my grandmother’s gun to be able to hunt and, you know, maybe she was looking over me that day. {laughs}

NF: So do you remember your first time shooting? Who taught you?

DG: My dad. Yep, I remember because my father is very adamant about safety and learning experiences and so the first time I shot a gun it was at a watermelon. We all shot a watermelon off a fence post. And it was made to be very scary because he wanted us to know that guns can be dangerous if not used properly. Just like you would teach your kid to drive a car and tell them that a car can be dangerous if not used properly. So we shot the watermelon and it blew up and he said, “That’s what happens to someone’s head if you shoot them.” So you get that fear and that respect for what that tool does. We’re very adamant and have taught hundreds of kids through the Eddie Eagle program: “Stop, don’t touch, leave the area, tell an adult.” I think safety is one of the aspects that is almost incorporated in to OTIS‘s products because you have to clean breech to muzzle so you are always opening the receiver. You’re never able to clean a loaded firearm, so there’s a lot of built-in safety to our cleaning kit.  And with the bore reflector, you know, you teach someone that they should always have the bore reflector in so when you’re at a distance you have a visual that the gun is safe, it’s unloaded, you don’t have to guess. There’s just a lot of different safety aspects that I think are very important for shooters in general. And sometimes the people that become the most confident are the most dangerous.

NF: You referenced the soldiers thanking the ladies. What percentage of the employees at OTIS is female?

DG: We are at 75% female.

NF: Wow- I’ve never heard of any company, especially a firearms company, being 75% female. That’s really fantastic.

DG: Yeah, well, we obviously hire based on skill but we also have assembly workers that dominate our work force. We also have a corporate day care, so many of the teachers in the day care are women.

NF: OTIS sounds like a pretty cool company to work for. Now, I know that you sponsor lots of different shooters, namely, of course, our friend Kim Rhode. How did all of that come about and why did you choose her?

DG: It’s an interesting story and it goes way back to me getting Kim’s autograph at an NRA show when she was 14 and just starting the sport, and looking at her as being able to be the face of female shooters who are young in our industry. At the time I felt like I was kind of alone out there, so when she won that gold medal it was just kind of a reiteration of, “We’re here and we’re ready to make our mark.” So we have a lot in common. We’ve talked about it before – about being so young when we started in this industry and how that affects how you work almost harder at something because you’re there to prove the world wrong. That it can be done. But, yeah, it’s just great. And when we had the opportunity to sponsor her and the means to do it, it was a no-brainer. I love being able to shoot with her and she’s just a great mentor and she just has all the same qualities culturally that OTIS has. You know, just being humble, and she’s just a great great role model for the shooting industry, and we’re very proud to be able to sponsor her. We, of course, wish her much luck in the 2012 games. I’m so impressed that she’s already qualified. It’s just really really cool and I’m proud to say that I’m a friend of hers.

NF: She really is an impressive person. Okay, so it’s probably been a little bit difficult to keep things girlie in the gun world. Do you find that that’s the case or do you do your own thing?

DF: I do my own thing. I love wearing my stilettos to work. I love pink guns. I like to find camo that fits. I love the opportunity to have something in common with my husband that we can do together after our kids are long gone out of the nest. I just have so many great memories and experiences around hunting. Whether it’s a successful harvest or not – just being outdoors in general. And I love being a girl, too. I love being girlie. I think you can have the best of both worlds and I’ve met a lot of women over time that are just, you know, you would never think they would be proficient at shooting or hunting and they’re some of the best. And you know, you can walk out in an evening gown at night and feel just as comfortable and confident walking out in your camo the next morning. I think it’s important to have those different roles because as women, you know, we do have to multitask. We are, you know, mothers, wives, sisters… we have our jobs. And to be able to go in and out of those roles and feel comfortable – each one is important to a person as a whole. So, you know, I don’t feel bad about putting on red lipstick when I go out to hunt. {laughs} You know, it’s just being who you are.

NF: I think that’s fantastic. It’s so important not to lose that sense of being girlie and feminine and it’s so great to hear such a leader in the industry express that. It’s amazing. You’re really paving the way. It’s inspiring for me, too, you know. Sometimes you do feel like it’s completely taken over by the guys and we’re here to make women feel more comfortable getting involved.

Lastly, what advice would you give women who have never shot before? They might be just dabbling their toes in the water or thinking about it – what would you say?

DG: To get a good mentor or join a woman that is involved.  There are a lot of great organizations out there – Babes with Bullets is a great one for pistol shooting. We run our employees through it and offer it to them. It’s just, you know, not only empowering and educating, but even if you never want to shoot again at least you know how to handle a firearm because it is the lack of education and the fear of it that is what makes it scary.  And you know, for most people who get into it, be careful because you will have a new addiction. {laughs} Beware because you’re gonna be spending some money and you’re gonna get in to it. Women do that, when we get into something we need to learn everything about it and we want all the gear.  And we’re very good at shooting and any shooter out there will tell you that. There’s just so much you can do, like the Cowboy Action, and there are so many fun things you can do other than hunting. And at OTIS we really have to remember that because when you are at a trade show there are a lot of shooters out there who don’t necessarily hunt. So whether it be extreme shooting or something like skeet like Kim would do. Or like Cowboy Action – you can still have fun with a gun and not hunt. You have to remember that you can be anti-hunting but still love to shoot guns and do target shooting. I think that’s somewhat of a misnomer out there – that if you have guns then you must kill stuff. No {laughs}. You know, I love to shoot first and foremost. Hunting is a passion of mine, but even if I never hunted a day in my life, I would shoot.

You just finished reading Interview with Doreen Garrett of OTIS Tech on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!