GUNS/BARMS

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Gun Group Targets Women


Females from all walks of life gather to
shoot, talk, shop

March 19, 2001

BY TAMARA AUDI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

FRANKENMUTH -- The school nurse, with
pictures of her grandsons pinned to her jacket
below another pin that said "hockey grandma,"
leveled the .38 Smith & Wesson revolver, paused
and fired. Then she smiled.

"Hey, that's pretty good for my first time," Theresa
Hull said, beaming. The 59-year-old Nashville,
Mich., woman hit the center on her paper target
three times early Sunday afternoon. "I love this."

And with that, a state and national pro-gun
movement aiming to attract female members had
also hit its mark. Bull's-eye.

The Shop & Shoot Weekend, hosted by the
Michigan Chapter of the Second Amendment
Sisters -- gun rights advocates' answer to the
female-run gun-control movement Million Mom
March -- brought all kinds of women and girls to
Frankenmuth for a weekend of outlet shopping,
chicken dinners, girl talk, shooting lessons and
competition.

The Second Amendment Sisters has about 2,500
members nationally, according to national President
Juli Bednarzyk. Most of those members are in
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas, she said.

About 60 women signed up for the event, including
state Rep. Susan Tabor, R-Delta Township, a
53-year-old candle saleswoman from Grand
Rapids, a 62-year-old Grand Rapids widow, a
38-year-old Warren social worker, the executive
director of Michigan Rabbit Rescue and a Dearborn
homemaker.

"I'm surprised at how many different women there
are here. I'm definitely the only one with an eyebrow
ring, though," said Erin Reeser, a 25-year-old Web
site sales consultant for a motorcycle dealership.

Reeser came with two aunts not much older than
she is. The three women left Frankenmuth in a
minivan filled to the windows with shoes, clothes
and target sheets "to prove to our husbands that we
did some shooting, too," said Reeser.

For four pairs of women and teenage girls, it was a
special mother-daughter weekend -- a shopping
spree combined with a lesson in personal safety.

"This is our girls' weekend," said Sandy Nutt, a
36-year-old administrative assistant who came from
Greenville with her 13-year-old daughter, Sara. On
Saturday, the two shopped for swimsuits and
sweatshirts at the Birch Run outlet mall. On Sunday,
they practiced shotgun and rifle shooting. Sport
shooting is a family event, Sandy Nutt said.

Soft-spoken and almost shy, Sandy Nutt said she
understands that the image of a 13-year-old girl
taking aim with a rifle may be unsettling to some, but
"I'd rather that Sara know how to shoot and handle
a gun safely than to find something and not know
what to do with it."

"It's a really good hobby," Sara Nutt said of the
target practice. "It's a challenge."

At least half of the women were first-time or novice
shooters. Others were more experienced, and
long-time NRA supporters. Many have husbands,
fathers and brothers who were hunters. A few said
they were there to please their husbands, who
wanted to be able to take them target shooting.

Some of those men showed up to help teach and
offer moral support.

While SAS organizers proclaimed the weekend a
victory, many of the women who attended were
afraid to be photographed or give their full names
because of the stigma they say is associated with
owning a gun.

"I'm afraid if people know I have a gun, it'll hurt my
business," said a Grand Rapids grandmother, while
showing her new Ladysmith .38. For her and some
of the other older women in the crowd, owning a
gun is primarily a matter of personal safety. "I refuse
to be a victim. And I'm too old to learn karate."

SAS organizers hope more weekends like this one
will change the perception of gun owners. "We're
everyday working people. We're mothers. We don't
love our kids any less because we carry a firearm,"
said SAS state organizer June Fellows.

The day was almost over, and shooting prizes were
being handed out: gun cases and cleaners, but also
bath crystals, quilts and chocolate.

The women exchanged phone numbers, compared
weekend shopping notes (a good sale on lace
curtains; a clearance on kids shorts), tucked target
sheets into their purses, fixed lipsticks, found their
husbands and put their guns away.

Contact TAMARA AUDI at 313-222-6582.

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/guns19_20010319.htm




May The Truth Keep Us Free!

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