I am the gun industry’s fastest-growing customer

[lostinblue 1,989]

I am the gun industry’s fastest-growing customer

E.B. Solomont , Reporter - St. Louis Business Journal
Apr 4, 2014, 11:28am CDT Updated: Apr 5, 2014, 12:30pm CDT

don’t own a gun, and I’ve shot a firearm only twice in my life, but in many ways I’m the new face of the gun industry.

That is: I’m a woman, and the growing number of female shooters is helping drive a surge in gun ownership in this country.

That realization struck me last week while I was interviewing local business owners for an article in this week’s edition of the Business Journal about the booming gun industry in St. Louis, which is home to Olin Corp., the $2.5 billion maker of Winchester ammunition, as well as small business owners like Steve King, owner of Metro Shooting in Belleville, Ill., and Bridgeton, Mo.

According to the National Sporting Goods Association, women’s participation in shooting and hunting has increased in the past decade by 51.5 percent and 41.8 percent, respectively. The trend has made national headlines; and in fact, the gun industry has introduced entire lines of products catered to women: Ruger makes the LCP Pink Handgun ($349.99) and Charter Arms has a Pink Lady Handgun ($499.99).

Andrea James, an analyst at Dougherty & Co., told me that the top reasons first-time gun owners purchase a firearm are for personal protection and sport. “A gun levels the playing field between a woman and her aggressor,” she said. And once a women buys a gun for personal protection, James said, you often see her take it to the range to practice. “Then you need to buy more ammo, and you might say ‘I know how to shoot this pistol, but now I want to try a revolver,’” she said. The net effect is that shooting becomes “normalized” for women and has a multiplying effect.

During a visit to Metro Shooting, King told me that women represent his fastest-growing demographic. A former police officer, King bought the Belleville store in 2003; in 2011, when he and his wife, Amy Chase King, built a $2 million second location in Bridgeton, they tried to create a modern space to attract more women, he said.

The 17,000-square-foot store and shooting range is tasteful and organized; King said display cases are meant to look like jewelry cases — for guns. “The men are always going to buy a gun. We didn’t have to target them,” said King, whose two locations are on track to generate $6 million in combined revenue this year.

King brought me downstairs to his indoor shooting range, where he taught me to fire a .9 mm and a .22 mm handgun. I shot a gun once before, in 2008.

Shoulders squared and knees slightly bent, I squinted at the target. “Breathe and squeeze,” he instructed. I resisted the urge to close my eyes, and fired.

http://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/out-of-the-office/2014/04/i-am-the-gun-industry-s-fastest-growing-customer.html?page=all

[Danno 1,228]

This is so true.

I know women who would never have allowed a gun in their house, now have a concealed carry permit or are thinking about it.

It seems once you get people past the "That thing is scary" mindset, they have a rapid conversion.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Funny, they're talking about women making a run for guns and Danno posts a picture of a dude with a gun.

[JohnR! 5,495]

This is so true.

I know women who would never have allowed a gun in their house, now have a concealed carry permit or are thinking about it.

And I know plenty women who have not changed their stances, when it comes to guns.

It is almost as though one's own opinion and observation oftentimes proves insufficiently representative and should not be used to expand into a projection of the entire universe...

[Darnell 8,479]

I am so proud of E B Solomont for doing research in the world around her.

Why? Uh, the world around her changed and she's stepping out of her comfort zones to learn about it.

Kudos !

[her report is a bit late, seemingly 3 years or so. maybe she's a recent Mom who recently returned back to the workforce?]

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Good! More guns = less violence. Or so I'm told! Who cares if it's true or not?

[Danno 1,228]

And I know plenty women who have not changed their stances, when it comes to guns.

Yeah it is quite common for people to retain their beliefs, I also know those as well, my mom for example.

But when you find things going the other way, it is note worthy.

I would agree "my" impressions are not evidence of a "universal" movement.

Others have documented a marked increase in gun use and ownership by females.... conceal carry stats are one.

The explosion of female oriented guns and gear is remarkable.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Yeah it is quite common for people to retain their beliefs, I also know those as well, my mom for example.

But when you find things going the other way, it is note worthy.

And you, for example.

You find things "going the other way" on a topic like gay marriage, yet you retain your beliefs. As outdated as they are.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Yeah it is quite common for people to retain their beliefs, I also know those as well, my mom for example.

But when you find things going the other way, it is note worthy.

I would agree "my" impressions are not evidence of a "universal" movement.

Others have documented a marked increase in gun use and ownership by females.... conceal carry stats are one.

The explosion of female oriented guns and gear is remarkable.

The former qualifies the latter quite well.

[lostinblue 1,989]

And I know plenty women who have not changed their stances, when it comes to guns.

It is almost as though one's own opinion and observation oftentimes proves insufficiently representative and should not be used to expand into a projection of the entire universe...

You just have to wander away from Starbucks once in a while and see how life is really like.

[JohnR! 5,495]

You just have to wander away from Starbucks once in a while and see how life is really like.

Life without caffeine is not worth living.