Magic Valley Women Gain Confidence Through Better Shooting Skills

By Andrew Weeks – aweeks@magicvalley.com | Posted: Thursday, February 2, 2012 2:00 am |

Ed Glazar * For the Times-NewsKris Rambur takes aim with her Glock 19 pistol Monday at the Twin Falls Rifle and Pistol Club as her friend Lisa Baily looks on. The women say that learning to shoot sparks more confidence and they feel better protected.

TWIN FALLS • Kris Rambur has seen it before — a calendar full of attractive women dressed in bikinis and holding guns.

The chauvinistic approach to women and guns makes her angry.

“Those things get me so riled up because those women don’t usually even shoot,” Rambur said.

The Twin Falls woman wants to help change the perception that guns are just a man’s hobby. Not all women are ignorant of guns, she said, just as not all men are gun savvy. She encourages women to become acquainted with firearms and to practice shooting, even taking classes to obtain concealed-carry permits.

There are at least three good reasons: It helps women have more confidence in themselves, she said, and gives them protection if they’re ever physically threatened by an attacker. And the third: Having a gun hobby is just plain fun, said Rambur, who target shoots at local ranges at least three times a week.

‘Bit by the Bug’

On Monday, she and friend Lisa Baily were at the TwinFalls Rifle and Pistol Club demonstrating their skills with firearms.

Hitting a bull’s-eye comes easy to these women. Baily, a 39-year-old Kimberly resident, started shooting about three years ago, while Rambur, 38, has been shooting since she was 17.

Her dad taught her about guns, how to hold a pistol, how to aim. But he never let her load them.

“He’d do things with the gun and then hand it to me,” she said. “I’d shoot it down range and then hand it back to dad, who’d reload it for me. So I never learned the mechanics of gun fundamentals until I took a class. That’s when the drive began. I just got bit by the bug.”

Read more: https://magicvalley.com/lifestyles/recreation/magic-valley-women-gain-confidence-through-better-shooting-skills/article_89b175a9-2f44-57ca-99ee-be13a592e64c.html#ixzz1lF76jkOm

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By Annette D.

Yes, I’m a female and yes, I have a firearm… several in fact. Should I look or act a certain way because I own and shoot a firearm? No. Then why do people act the way they do when they find out?

I got a call yesterday from a businessman I work with on and off.  We’ve never met, I live in the Northeast, he lives out West.  We worked together for a few months and then he changed gears and didn’t need my services for the time being.  I’d get a call every few months to check in and keep in touch.  Life was good.

Yesterday’s call was apparently prompted by my Google+ profile picture.  It’s me firing at a target.  “Your Google profile picture, is that you?”

The picture in question..

Me: Umm, yes.  Him: With a gun?  You have a gun?  Me: I have several firearms.  Him: Why.  Me: Because I shoot?

I changed the subject back to business and a few minutes later he mentioned that he wondered if it were smart for me to use a picture “like that” on a public profile.  I was polite, as I was hoping to do more work for him in the future, but REALLY? Is it that bad? Am I missing something? I explained that my Google+ profile is used mainly to keep in touch with other firearms enthusiasts that I’ve met on various forums and I don’t use it to solicit business, not that I would be worried that my profile picture would hinder that.  My work speaks for itself. Then I get this…”Wow, between the gun picture and your Skype picture, you must be some kind of a control freak, no?” My Skype picture is me on my horse.

Is this the photo of a control freak?

At this point, I felt the need to be less polite than I had been during the conversation because I now no longer cared if I work for him again. My answer was simply, “I have a horse, and I have firearms, I do not see what one has to do with the other, nor do I see where you’re going with this, or how it would affect our working relationship. We have a business relationship, my personal life is none of your business, nor is your personal life any of mine.”

I’m a proud NRA member. I’m a proud American. Why are people so phobic of firearms and those of us who choose to own and enjoy them? You don’t want one? That’s your choice! I happen to enjoy mine, so leave me alone. He ended up asking me to look into something for him, but I’m not at all sure now I want to even deal with him again.

Is it because I’m a woman? Would a male associate of his even be questioned? Just the fact that he felt the need to bring it up (twice) upsets me… anybody ever have anything similar happen to them? How did you deal with it?

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This, my friends, is fabulous news. We have come a long way in having (super safe) fun with our guns and in the field of self defense.  There is one statistic in there that we need to work on, though. Gotta close that gender gap. Yay for women with guns in 2011- now lets push that number up in 2012!

Gallup Poll: Record 43% of U.S. women say household has a gun

The number of U.S. women who say their household possesses a gun is at a record high.

A Gallup Poll released Wednesday says 43% of American women report a gun in their home or somewhere on their property. That number is up seven percentage points, from 36% in 2010.

Men were even more likely to say their household has a gun. This year 52% of men reported a gun in their house or on their property — also seven points higher than in 2010, when 45% said so.

The gender gap is more pronounced when people are asked who owns the gun. Twice as many men as women say they own a gun — 46% of men, 23% of women.

These results come from Gallup’s Oct. 6-9 crime poll, which also found that public support for Americans’ right to bear arms has hit an all time high. When asked whether there should be a law banning possession of handguns, nearly three-quarters said they opposed such a law. A little more than a quarter supported such a law.

To see the full (*cough* poorly written and kind of lame *cough*) article, click here:

https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/gallup-poll-record-43-of-us-women-have-gun-in-house.htm

The statistic still rocks, though.

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For the full article and video, click here:

https://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/131302134.html

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Gun Makers Set Sights On Female Buyers

by Scott Graf

Pink and purple handguns are for sale at Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte, N.C. Gun store owners reported a 73 percent increase in female customers in 2009 from the year before — a trend reflected by the growing number of guns made just for women. For years, gun stores were predominantly patronized by men. But these days, shooting ranges and shops selling firearms are seeing more female customers than ever before, and that has them changing the way they do business. In one brand-new shooting range at Eagle Gun in Concord, N.C., shots from Sharon Skoff’s handgun boom behind glass that separates the range from the rest of the shop. “I just refuse to be a victim if I possibly can in life,” Skoff says. “I actually went and got my concealed permit a couple months ago so I can carry.” Skoff, a 47-year-old flight attendant, says she shoots 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, or raping [them],” she says.

Read/listen to the entire post here:

https://www.npr.org/2011/08/18/139757899/gun-makers-set-sights-on-female-buyers

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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

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I’m always so excited when I get to pick up a new gun. I look at my new purchase in awe thinking, “Wow, this is MINE”. This time the newest member of the family was a Mossberg 510 mini shotgun. It’s my first shotgun and it will be perfect for me and to teach my kids with as well. As I look at it, all I can think about is taking it to the range, but it’s about ten o’clock at night now and the range won’t be open until 10 am tomorrow.

It’s exactly this feeling that I want to see other female firearms owners experience. What I have seen after taking women to the range and speaking with others is that some women have a tendency to hold back on how they feel about owning and shooting guns (at least in this part of the USA). It’s almost like they feel they don’t have the right to really own one or a place in that world — I don’t know why, but I imagine that it has something to do with shooting not being a “feminine” activity. That it’s not OK to express an interest in things that are loud and make really big holes in the target. But after speaking with the women who have come shooting with me, I learned they quickly realize how empowering and fun it can be, too.

The days of the quiet, polite female who takes a back seat in a man’s world are long since gone, but society’s stereotypes die hard and there are still those who might view certain sports and activities as masculine. I wasn’t raised this way, in fact, in my family all the kids were treated equally regardless of gender. My brother took his turn washing the dishes and cooking dinner, and my sisters and I put in our time mowing the lawn and helping my father with projects in the garage. My parents always told my four sisters and me that we could do anything we wanted, and they stood behind us all the way. I never would have thought I couldn’t own, handle, or even build guns if I put my mind to it and wanted it badly enough. It took me a while to realize that not everyone is as fortunate as we were.

I find it interesting to read about strong women who stand out and do things that are not considered “ladylike”. For example, on July 4th, I read the story of Sonya Thomas, who at 5 feet and 105 pounds has become a competitive eating champion. She gets up in front of crowds of spectators and beats her male competitors time and time again, often to the jeers of the audience and sometimes with a barrage of garbage raining down on her. Say what you will about the gross out factor of competitive eating, the fact that Sonya walked into a stadium full of Philly fans to compete in the 2005 Wing Bowl where she was touted by the crowd as the “feminist villain” shows that she has a confidence that is admirable. This past July 4th she won the annual Nathan’s hotdog eating contest in the newly created women’s division.

And then you have someone like Bonnie, a 70 year old grandmother who found a man had broken into her New Hampshire home undressed, and was sitting at her kitchen table eating a meal from her refrigerator. She was rightly concerned about the safety of her grandson asleep upstairs and grabbed a bat and starting beating the man until he left the house. Bonnie told the media, “I don’t want anyone to ever think they can hurt my family and get away with it. You have got to take care of yourself,” she says, “You’re not weak, be strong. There’s always a way to protect yourself. Use it.” Exactly. Now that is a woman who has confidence in herself, and it showcases that no one should ever feel the need to hold back when protecting themselves — male or female.

These are two different women, who feel comfortable enough with themselves to act outside what can be considered acceptable for women in our society. They are two women who are not afraid to draw on the confidence they feel inside themselves and do what feels right for them. I understand it can be hard to walk into male dominated environments, like a gun shop or shooting range, especially alone. This is one of the reasons I decided to become a firearms instructor. I enjoy introducing students, and especially women, to the world of firearms.

Once women make the decision to go for it and enter the range, I find many are afraid to handle the gun because of a fear they might break it. So they handle it gently, like it’s fragile or irreplaceable. Don’t be afraid to handle your gun roughly ladies! (By this I mean don’t pick it up like you would a newborn infant). A 9mm handgun can withstand twenty five thousand pounds of blow back pressure (psi) when you pull the trigger; believe me, even if you are at the gym every day, you can’t duplicate that kind of power. It’s actually better not to assist or baby your gun when chambering a round. Rack the slide and let it fly forward. Really get to know your firearm, touch everything on it and know how it works! Please be safe though and follow all safe gun handling rules including making sure it’s unloaded first. The gun is just a tool to get the job done, it’s no different than many other tools you will use on a daily basis. And it’s your tool. Whether your goal is to send some rounds down range at a piece of paper for fun or to gain some experience in order to keep a gun for self defense, like any other tool you own, knowing intimately how it works will allow it to work best for you.

It doesn’t matter if you want to shoot in pink earmuffs, or you buy a rifle DuraCoated in a purple camouflage pattern — in fact, bedazzle your gun case if you like, because it only matters how you feel inside about shooting your gun. You are just as capable and probably more responsible, than the guy in the next port. Don’t assume he knows any more than you do. Don’t misunderstand; my goal is only to encourage women to have confidence in their own ability to handle a gun. I have been the recipient of much encouragement and support of male instructors and gun owners.

I look at shooting as my time to relax so I often enjoy shooting alone. It’s at least as good as a visit to the spa. I have to clear my mind and turn off my phone to concentrate on what I am doing, especially if I want to shoot well. But I know that sometimes it’s easier to go with a friend.

My favorite experience was taking a friend to shoot who was sure she just would not be able to do it. Yes, of course she thought it was great that I could but there was no reasoning with her. It was too complicated, too much recoil, too much unfounded fear that she could never protect herself — that it wasn’t her job, her right, her responsibility to do so. After she fired the handguns, and very well I might add, I convinced her to shoot the AR-15. After the first round, she just paused and then looked at me. “Wow,” she said, “that felt great. I can do this. I feel so empowered.” Hello, and welcome to my world. Remember ladies, it’s your gun, don’t be afraid of it. Own it.

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Watch out Lady GaGa, there are new “Little Monsters,” and they’re all mine!   Yes, I’ve turned my two daughters into little monsters… shooting monsters that is!  Shooting isn’t something that kids do in our neck of the woods. We live in a suburb of New York City, and firearms are, for the most part, a taboo subject.

When my husband and I applied for our pistol permits back in 2008, I think my girls may have been a little freaked out.  In our county, pretty much all you can apply for is a “Sportsman Residence” license which allows you to target shoot, hike and hunt.  CCW’s are rarely granted because the judges who issue them make you prove “need.”  Yes, it’s a violation of my 2nd Amendment Rights, and I am preparing to petition the Judge assigned to my license for conversion to a CCW, but I digress… that will be a whole other blog entry down the road.

Back to my girls! It all started a few years ago when we went with friends up to a cabin in Upstate New York for a day of shooting. My husband, who had shot competitively on the New York State Junior Rifle team when he was young, hadn’t shot in years after losing the end of his trigger finger in a lawn mower accident when he was 14. (Yeah, I know.) My friend’s dad, who owned the cabin, was a World War II hero, Army 82nd Airborne, retired from the Sheriff’s Department, worked for the FBI, Firearm Instructor… I could go on and on about “Pop” but first and foremost, he taught us about firearms and safety that day, and what a blast we all had.  My girls at the time were 10 and 12, and with his guidance, they shot several types and calibers of rifles and revolvers.  It was a great foundation for us all, and the beginning of what has become a passion of mine!

My 14½ year-old daughter had the opportunity to join me at the range when I earned my ProMarksman NRA rating.  School was still in session, but winding down, and she had an afternoon full of nothing at school, so I took her out early, deciding that not every lesson in life was learned in the classroom.

Me and my Browning.

We were joined at the range my buddy Bob, who usually emailed me before heading to the range because he knows I’m not yet comfortable being there by myself.  Bob has lots and lots of “toys” and usually brings quite a nice assortment of firearms for us to “play” with!  I brought along my Browning Buck Mark Camper .22 pistol, and my newly acquired Savage Mark II (NRA limited edition!) .22 rifle that I purchased from the widow of a club member who passed away last year.

This would be Beth’s second time to the range. She participated last Fall in our Club’s annual Turkey Shoot, where she was the hit of the group going from member to member trying out their .22 rifles – seems everybody wanted Beth to try their rifle.

Beth takes aim.

She had a blast, and it was her first time shooting since she was 10. Bob is an excellent instructor and he’s great with kids. He’ll likely head up our newly formed Jr. Club, since we now have “juniors” who are interested!  Beth shot everything from both of my firearms, to a .38 carbine rifle, to a .357 Magnum, (he loaded the first 2 chambers with .38s so she’d get a feel for it, then the rest with .357s, she did great and loved every second.) She spent the next few weeks of school pleading for me to take her out early, so we could go shooting! Yes… Monster #1 created.

Kristen, my 16-year-old, had all her hard classes in the afternoon, so there was no early dismissal for her. She had to wait until school was done and testing was over, but we found an opportunity last week when she had a day free of testing. We’ve tried to take her to the range before, but something always got in the way. When I got a call from another club member, Mike, letting me know he was going down to the range, we loaded the truck and headed out.

I started her on the .22 rifle since Mike was practicing for the upcoming Bulls-Eye shoot from 25 yards.  I figured rifle might be the better option and placed her targets at about 15 yards. She got used to the scope quickly, and had some nice groupings for her first day. (Obviously, she takes after me.) When Mike was done, we moved outside and she played with my Buck Mark a bit.

Kristen's turn.

She couldn’t decide whether she liked the pistol or the rifle better, so she shot both. I didn’t get a lot of practice in, because she was just having too darned much fun! After a while, Mike left and it was just her and me.  She was much more relaxed having just me watching her, and she really began to shine.  I took her in close to the target and showed her some basic tactical shooting… well, clearly this was her favorite, and she did well. Yes, Monster #2… created!

As of Thursday, the girls testing will be finished and another school year will be successfully in the books. This frees us up for a summer at the range, which we’re all looking forward to! Being self employed, I have the flexibility to work when convenient; if it’s a beautiful day, I can up and leave my home office and hit the range for a while. (I call it “group therapy.”) One of these times, we’ll even let my husband play… poor guy is stuck at work all day (hey, somebody has to pay for the new toys, right??!!).

On a serious note, I believe teaching my girls to shoot will be one of the most important things they learn. Besides actual shooting, this sport involves safety, patience, responsibility and self confidence. And lastly, as a mother of two beautiful daughters, I hope that the boys they eventually date have seen their Facebook profile pictures of them shooting big scoped rifles.

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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.

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Being pretty new to shooting, I decided a good thing to do would be to go through the NRA Marksmanship ratings, one by one. When one of the guys from the club emailed me to see if I wanted to go shooting Thursday afternoon, I jumped at the chance because I’m not all that comfortable being there alone yet. I let my 14-year-old daughter tag along with me, it would be her first real afternoon at the range.

One of my 10 paper plates, showing my grouping for my Pro-Marksman NRA rating

Geared up with my paper plates and my trusty Buck Mark Camper .22 pistol, I set my table to the required 15 foot mark for my Pro Marksman rating. I needed 10 plates, with 5 shots each, with none closer to the edge than a half-inch. I accomplished this easily and earned my first rating quickly!

One of the other gentleman from my club, whom I hadn’t met before that day, mentioned that I should join them on Sunday for the clubs Bulls-eye Competition Shoot. “Me? Seriously? No, I’m too new at this…” His reply? “You’re a natural, see you Sunday…”

My husband and I went down on Sunday, and they talked me into trying it. Gotta say, I had a lot of fun, and, I did OK, even scoring some 10s! I was the only female there (I think I may be the only female in the club!) and I was the only person not shooting with a Red Dot sight, just me and my Buck Mark’s iron sights. We had to shoot one-handed. I’d never done that before. And the targets? They were 25 yards away– yeah, never done that before either.

I’ll go back and join them again on another Sunday. You have to attend 4 shoots to qualify for the prizes, and while I won’t be winning any prizes, I’ll be ready for the next series of shoots later this year! Now to find time to earn my NRA Marksman rating… that’s my next goal!

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