BANG! Ping. BANG, BANG! Ping, ping.
Gunshots echoed through the trees of a rural farm, lead disintegrating into dust as it exploded against thick steel targets.
The weapons had pastel-colored handles and pink bullet magazines.
They belong to women, the fastest-growing population of gun owners.
These gals — Glenda Craddock and Amy May — are among those revving up the trend in Hampton Roads. Through shops and gun groups aimed at women consumers, they've helped launch new offerings in the $13 billion industry — purses with built-in gun compartments, brightly-colored gun accessories, specialized clothing, even bras with a place to stash a weapon. Women are taking over shooting competitions and sharing their accomplishments on social media.
Meet the new gun-slingers of the world.
"I won my first competition a few weeks ago," said May, a single mother who manages one of Craddock's three South Hampton Roads pawn and gun shops. "I have always shot guns before, but I took up competition last fall because of working for them. Skeet shooting is my favorite, it's just so much fun.
"And shooting is extremely empowering. It's a good feeling to know that I can protect myself if I have to."
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, gun ownership among women has risen 77 percent since 2005. The organization says that 5.4 million women these days target shoot and that the main reasons women own guns are for self-defense, hunting and shooting sports — basically the same reasons men cite.
The National Rifle Association recently started a $6.5 million advertising campaign that targets millennial women.
Craddock is among a growing number of women who own businesses relating to guns, expanding on the pawn shops she owns with husband Jeff and recently opening Glenda's Guns in Virginia Beach.
She talked about the shop last Thursday while she and May took turns shooting an array of steel targets moved around in various orders and distances to test their skills at shooting from stationary positions and while moving through the range. On the Craddocks' large farm just south of Courtland, the group has the ability to train shooters using pistols, rifles and shotguns.
"We cater to everybody," she said while loading more bullets into a Glock 34 magazine. "Women, I think, get a sense of accomplishment and a skill level they didn't used to have. There is a sense of invincibility in a way.
"And I like that feeling."
Women's shooting clubs and organizations are popping up all across the country. A new chapter of The Well Armed Women held its first meeting in Virginia Beach last week. The organization boasts hundreds of chapters across the country, including 12 in Virginia and 14 in North Carolina, and has an online shop selling all sorts of gear designed for women who own guns.
Expecting maybe a handful for the inaugural meeting, chapter president Kim Thumel was pleasantly surprised when 24 women showed up.
"I really didn't know what to expect," said Thumel, a mother of two who has been shooting all her life, seriously for the last 15. Thumel became a gun safety instructor nine years ago.
"We had women who had been carjacked, robbed or raped and others who were just scared of what's going on in the world," she said. "We had others that just wanted to learn more and get better at shooting. It turned into a beautiful thing for women to do together, a fellowship where they could share their experiences and bond.
"Eight of them immediately signed up to be on our shooting team."
Thumel said woman and guns are here to stay and that Craddock's new store is evidence of how the industry is paying attention.
"Women are powerful and an important part of the economy," she said. "And let's face it, we like to shop."
More at: https://pilotonline.com/sports/outdo...05a53fb5f.html
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