Girls & Guns… What A Pairing! The Changing Face of the Gun Community

Lets face it, guns are fascinating.

More and more people of all races, genders, political parties — you name it — are waking up to the fact that things which “go boom” also make the heart flutter with the same enthusiasm. And while not specific or exclusive to any one category or gender — women are discovering the excitement and challenge of shooting in numbers growing faster than Jack’s magic beans.

But like anything that’s growing at such a quick rate, there are growing pains.

Who remembers the flood of pink guns into the market in a not-too-distant past? Yes, women enjoy pink. But we also enjoy teal, crimson, and of course the sleek, ever-slimming black. Don’t forget design details that are more than just slapping a flat solid color on a gun and calling it a “girl gun”. However, true women shooters appreciate function over form. Form is just an obvious plus.

Now don’t get me wrong, the firearms industry meant well.  They realized that more women were interested in guns and they worked to cater to us.
Their heart was good. They also listened to we females when we felt that, while pink can be cute enough, it ends up feeling a tad patronizing as one of our only choices, especially to seasoned female shooters. With much relief, this year I’ve seen companies catering to women in more than just color, and consult personally for companies who not only want artistically appealing design elements beyond color, but also want to focus on female ergonomics as well as overall shooting function for any gender.

But there are still the infamous “booth babes” as they are sometimes referred to by the community.

You know them as the scantily clad advertising vessels occasionally carrying a gun but always hired to lure in the guests more vulnerable to distractions at trade shows. While I tend to find this particular
category at best some gal (and rare guy!) just doing the job they were hired to do by a company who “doesn’t quite get it” yet and at worst a little comedy relief during often busy-as-heck industry shows…It does tend to be very off-putting to many women for various reasons. Most women would like to be seen as serious enthusiasts in the shooting community.

This is understandable as shooting is not exclusive to one category of person.

That’s one of the things that  makes shooting so awesome! But perpetuating a certain “look” or category, whether that be big burly men, tac vests, scantily clad girls, swat teams, world champion shooters, or even *shock* the gun-toting republican – is far too limiting for us as a whole. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these categories (though some would arguably command more respect than others…) But no one category corners the market on what is “acceptable” as a shooter and lover of the shooting arts. And so, as a shooting community, I believe our positive step forward in embracing more variety and our genuine efforts in weeding out areas that aleinate and potentially misrepresent the joy of shooting…is a wise one and currently active one.

Happily, others see this change too.

In a wonderful article hosted on “Alloutdoor.com” the writer with the pen name “Major Pandemic” writes of his wife’s initial concern in attending an industry show,

This was the first year in many that Mrs. Pandemic attended a SHOT Show with me. Frankly, I had been concerned that she would go off on someone again about the “need” for booth babes. But the last couple years, I was happy to come back and report to her that there were significantly fewer “booth babes” than ever, and the weight and health of attendees was greatly improved. With all the cut beefcake (her words not mine) military folks running around, the general populace of the show was also extremely polite. So this year she relented with a marginal interest in seeing what was new with the expectation that she would be “less annoyed.” –

He then reports more good news in both their findings at the biggest industry show of the year:

So I am very happy to report that SHOT show is no longer a men’s convention. It’s a good thing, too. Most of the top Shooting Hunting and Outdoor PR agencies are female run, a very high percentage of marketing and purchasing department heads are female, and then of course there is the huge growth of the female professional and casual shooter segment. Manufacturers should be (and generally are) taking note of how women are driving the next wave of sales.