What are the reasons behind this?

For the past couple of years our nation has seen women increasingly becoming interested in purchasing firearms and becoming educated on firearms safety.  This is not a small spike.  It is more like a 65% increase that the firearms industry has witnessed, hence the pink and purple firearms that are now out there along with pink targets and accessories.  SHE CAN SHOOT, LLC headquarted in Centreville, VA was highly responsibile for initiating firearms education and training for women throughout the D.C. metropolitan area by using highly experienced and certified female instructors starting in 2010. Today, SHE CAN SHOOT has over 1800 members just in the Capitol Beltway area, and chapters continue to open throughout the United States.  The education and training is also passed on to each woman's family members and friends as they are allowed to also attend.
But why the spike and the attention?  SHE CAN SHOOT welcomes your story and comments.  Please feel free to also forward your story to www.shecanshoot.com on why you as a woman have become interested in firearms.http://wj.la/MidYTY

Has Your Child Been Educated On Firearms?

Have you ever watched a child pick up a water pistol or toy gun and studed its behavior?  The predictable outcome is that the child will place its finger on the trigger, point the gun at the intended target, and pull the trigger while announcing, "bang, bang."

On another note, not that it can't occur at any time, however summer usually means older children and teens left unattended at home while parents work. Would your child know what to do if he/she came in contact with a firearm? You may not have any firearms in the household, however, as a parent, we can't prevent our youngsters from being exposed to a weapon if they are over at someone else's house.

Does your child understand the potential dangers of an air rifle or pistol or pellet gun? Simply not owning any firearm is not enough these days to prevent your child from the dangers that exist with these weapons. Children need to be trained on the potential hazards and safety of all firearms, including the necessary steps to take when coming into contact with them.

There are too many occurrences that we hear about in the news which involve children dismissing air rifles and pistols as toys and being injured. Not to mention, children's curiosity with firearms in the house that lead to a gun going off and a person is killed.  

There are debated arguments on whether children should train with the parents or if the parents should only receive firearms safety training and awareness. However, only 1 in 4 households pursue this type of available training because one member usually believes that he has at least a minimal amount of knowledge about how a gun operates.  Scary information, but true.  

It has been my experience for the past 15 years as a firearms instructor that training together as a family not only takes the natural curiosity and fascination of firearms away from a child, but proper training at this age also builds "muscle memory" in which a youngster will be able to fall back on when coming into contact with them.  The respect of handling a firearm and what it can do becomes more of a reality than the impressions that Hollywood introduces.

~Tina Wilson-Cohen, President
SHE CAN SHOOT, LLC