Drizzt
Member
Modesto Bee
May 20, 2003, Tuesday, ALL EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. C1
LENGTH: 1581 words
HEADLINE: CALIBER CLASSROOM: CLINIC TEACHES WOMEN ABOUT GUNS
BYLINE: BY ANDREA TODD, BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: IONE
BODY:
It's a beautiful Sunday morning in the country at the True Sportsman Club. And about three dozen women -- teen-agers, moms, golden girls -- are gathered around picnic tables, sipping coffee, munching on doughnuts, and watching intently as the man in front loads a hunting rifle.
Bullets and buckshot are passed around. A woman pulls her bifocals from her purse and studies the material, asking one of the instructors, "Would this be enough to kill something, or just wound it?"
She is told she would need more to make a clean kill, but that the buckshot spreads with the bullet from a farther range, ensuring some injury.
"Interesting," she says.
You read about this Women On Target shooting clinic, sponsored in partnership with the National Rifle Association, and surely you are thinking these are women whipped into a fear frenzy by a crime wave or the evening news. They are here, you are certain, for the organization's "Refuse To Be A Victim" seminar, right?
You look at most of them, with their ponytails in scrunchies, wearing sneakers and Eddie Bauer windbreakers, and you think, great ... Soccer moms with guns.
True, this is the True Sportsman Club. And yes, this is a shooting clinic run for women only, those who want to learn more about guns and how to shoot them, but not so much for the purpose of self-defense as for the purpose of sport.
"We live in the foothills," says the instructor, handling a pistol. "A place where one dark night you might walk out your back door and see ... rattlesnakes.
"Some say you can kill a rattler with a shovel. Now I don't know what kind of shovel you have at home but in my house there ain't a shovel with a handle long enough to kill a rattlesnake."
He lays three paper plates on the ground, and instructs his daughter to imagine they are coiled rattlesnakes.
She aims and shoots. The plates are littered with buckshot and one clean hole in each.
"See, the bullet may not hit it, but the buckshot definitely will," says the instructor -- demonstrating the importance of using the right ammunition.
For $20, women attending this clinic get everything they'll need to safely enjoy a day of shooting: Ear and eye protection, instruction, guns and ammunition (although women are welcome to bring their own), breakfast, lunch, and all the shooting they can stand.
And in the company of other women.
"Many of the women who come to this clinic have had some bad experience with guns, in that they've gone shooting with their husbands who were not the best instructors, or were kicked and bruised by the gun when it fired," says Kathleen Lynch, who runs the clinic with help from her 18-year-old daughter, Ashley, a student at Purdue University in Indiana (see "Five Questions"). "Shooting and learning about shooting with other women is an opportunity to realize how much fun the sport can be."
PLENTY TO LEARN
Women at the clinic are schooled in rifle, shotgun, and pistol shooting. Gun safety is the first thing discussed.
"Especially when it comes to the pistols," says Lynch. "They are so small and manageable that it's critical for shooters to learn the safety rules before they even pick one up."
For that reason, she adds, many women are more nervous about handling the smaller guns. But the big guns are scary, too.
"I'm afraid the rifles are going to smack me in the face," says Pamela Plamondon of Galt.
The instructors who volunteer their time and energy to these clinics are not NRA-certified, but they are excellent teachers, Lynch says.
The course offers invaluable information about guns, including the basic rules of "maximum courtesy", or the golden rule of gunning, that when someone hands you a gun, it should have the action, or barrel, open.
It also teaches women how to counter the chauvinistic attitudes they often face in gun shops or at the range.
"The instructors assure us that this is a gender-neutral sport -- that women don't have to tolerate condescension on the range," says one woman, whose husband is a police officer -- one reason she strives to be comfortable with and knowledgable about guns. "Women are just as good as the men are, but it can be an exclusionary sport. Go to the rifle range, and you get a lot of, 'Can the little girl shoot?' Or, 'Here, little lady, let me help you with that.' Which may be helpful for some women but not as effective for others."
The one-day clinic also teaches the basics, like how to put earplugs in properly or how to determine which is, and to shoot with, your master eye (point to a tree on a hill, now close one eye, then the other. The eye you're using when the finger moves less is your master eye).
Women specifically find out how -- and why -- they often shoot with improper form; how they tend to lean back (because of the weight of the gun and a lack of upper-body strength), how, as a result, the rifle will kick more.
They learn to follow target with barrel and shoot, rather than point and shoot. They're also taught to match the right gun with the right sport, and the right ammunition with the right gun. For instance, with target shooting, you want ammo that leaves a clean ring and an easy-to-read score (and a bullet that doesn't expand). With hunting, you need bullets that can get through into the organs and then actually do expand, for a quicker, more humane death.
Lynch recalls that, the first time she shot a deer while out hunting, she was "in hysterics" because she thought she had missed after it ran off.
"I thought it was just wounded, and was worried it might get away. When we found the deer, we realized I had made a good lung hit, and the animal died quickly," she says. "It was traumatic. But it's a very dramatic experience of life and death."
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Lynch's family has hunted together, and she believes that hunting is not only an "ultimate family experience", but that, "it's a healthier way to live, especially if you eat what you've hunted. With all the hormones they put in the foods these days, what we do is much better."
Robin Bell, from Jackson, says her husband and son hunt, and she's taking the course because she says, "there are too many guns at home and I don't know how to shoot any of them."
She finds that, with all those guns in the house, she's more comfortable knowing gun awareness and safety.
"We are very careful when my son has friends over," she says. "Having the guns out is not an option. We lock them up, which we can always do, but I feel safer being able to handle one just in case."
Saiys Sacramento's Toni Aguayo, who had never shot a gun in her life before Sunday, even though her husband has guns: This class gives you more respect for the guns. You learn the history behind them. And you learn what you need to know if you have to handle one. You also learn a lot about the sport of it, how to have fun with a gun."
More information about the Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinic, contact Kathleen Lynch at 267-0385. For information on other Women On Target events, call 1-800-861-1166, or log on to www.nrahq.org.
Andrea Todd can be reached at 238-4537 or at [email protected].
-------------------- FIVE QUESTIONS --------------------
Five questions on shooting with Ashley Lynch, 18, a Purdue University student and winner of the top NRA Youth Education Summit Scholarship ($10,000)
1. How old were you when you started shooting? I got my first B.B. gun when I was 7 years old. I was in a shooting contest at a picnic, and I shot a log to pieces all the way through. And it was the first time I ever shot competitively. My dad loves to tell the story.
2. What was involved in competing for the National Rifle Association scholarship? I won the biggest scholarship they offered. About 50 students -- male and female -- from all across the United States were recruited from the various gun clubs and skeet teams. We were required to submit essays, letters of recommendation, all that. We spent five days in Washington D.C. at the Youth Education Summit, where we attended several lectures. We also learned a lot about the various NRA-sponsored programs, like Women on Target, Refuse To Be A Victim, and Eddie Eagle, their gun safety program for kids. We spent some time out in Quantico, Va., (the FBI Academy) as well.
3. Was this all about recruitment for the FBI or other NRA programs? I think it's certainly expected that most of the kids may have an interest in a career in law enforcement, or some other aspect of the NRA.
4. Gender-wise, what was this program like? It was pretty evenly-split. There were more boys than girls, but it wasn't as lopsided as you might think. I think girls are becoming more interested in the sport. For my 17th birthday, I took a bunch of girlfriends shooting out here on the range. They've been hearing about my shooting all our lives, and finally they were able to experience it firsthand. They had a blast.
5. So, no drunk, stupid frat boy would mess with you at college, right? (Laughing) Probably not. Guys are shocked that I'm so good. They think a girl who shoots and goes hunting for Thanksgiving dinner should look more like a man, I guess. I often shoot in a skirt, like Annie Oakley, and I wear my hair down on purpose, for that reason. It's too bad that the sport is automatically associated with so many political beliefs. I think it's the reason people won't have anything to do with guns, and I also think it's the reason some people become obsessed with them.
May 20, 2003, Tuesday, ALL EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. C1
LENGTH: 1581 words
HEADLINE: CALIBER CLASSROOM: CLINIC TEACHES WOMEN ABOUT GUNS
BYLINE: BY ANDREA TODD, BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: IONE
BODY:
It's a beautiful Sunday morning in the country at the True Sportsman Club. And about three dozen women -- teen-agers, moms, golden girls -- are gathered around picnic tables, sipping coffee, munching on doughnuts, and watching intently as the man in front loads a hunting rifle.
Bullets and buckshot are passed around. A woman pulls her bifocals from her purse and studies the material, asking one of the instructors, "Would this be enough to kill something, or just wound it?"
She is told she would need more to make a clean kill, but that the buckshot spreads with the bullet from a farther range, ensuring some injury.
"Interesting," she says.
You read about this Women On Target shooting clinic, sponsored in partnership with the National Rifle Association, and surely you are thinking these are women whipped into a fear frenzy by a crime wave or the evening news. They are here, you are certain, for the organization's "Refuse To Be A Victim" seminar, right?
You look at most of them, with their ponytails in scrunchies, wearing sneakers and Eddie Bauer windbreakers, and you think, great ... Soccer moms with guns.
True, this is the True Sportsman Club. And yes, this is a shooting clinic run for women only, those who want to learn more about guns and how to shoot them, but not so much for the purpose of self-defense as for the purpose of sport.
"We live in the foothills," says the instructor, handling a pistol. "A place where one dark night you might walk out your back door and see ... rattlesnakes.
"Some say you can kill a rattler with a shovel. Now I don't know what kind of shovel you have at home but in my house there ain't a shovel with a handle long enough to kill a rattlesnake."
He lays three paper plates on the ground, and instructs his daughter to imagine they are coiled rattlesnakes.
She aims and shoots. The plates are littered with buckshot and one clean hole in each.
"See, the bullet may not hit it, but the buckshot definitely will," says the instructor -- demonstrating the importance of using the right ammunition.
For $20, women attending this clinic get everything they'll need to safely enjoy a day of shooting: Ear and eye protection, instruction, guns and ammunition (although women are welcome to bring their own), breakfast, lunch, and all the shooting they can stand.
And in the company of other women.
"Many of the women who come to this clinic have had some bad experience with guns, in that they've gone shooting with their husbands who were not the best instructors, or were kicked and bruised by the gun when it fired," says Kathleen Lynch, who runs the clinic with help from her 18-year-old daughter, Ashley, a student at Purdue University in Indiana (see "Five Questions"). "Shooting and learning about shooting with other women is an opportunity to realize how much fun the sport can be."
PLENTY TO LEARN
Women at the clinic are schooled in rifle, shotgun, and pistol shooting. Gun safety is the first thing discussed.
"Especially when it comes to the pistols," says Lynch. "They are so small and manageable that it's critical for shooters to learn the safety rules before they even pick one up."
For that reason, she adds, many women are more nervous about handling the smaller guns. But the big guns are scary, too.
"I'm afraid the rifles are going to smack me in the face," says Pamela Plamondon of Galt.
The instructors who volunteer their time and energy to these clinics are not NRA-certified, but they are excellent teachers, Lynch says.
The course offers invaluable information about guns, including the basic rules of "maximum courtesy", or the golden rule of gunning, that when someone hands you a gun, it should have the action, or barrel, open.
It also teaches women how to counter the chauvinistic attitudes they often face in gun shops or at the range.
"The instructors assure us that this is a gender-neutral sport -- that women don't have to tolerate condescension on the range," says one woman, whose husband is a police officer -- one reason she strives to be comfortable with and knowledgable about guns. "Women are just as good as the men are, but it can be an exclusionary sport. Go to the rifle range, and you get a lot of, 'Can the little girl shoot?' Or, 'Here, little lady, let me help you with that.' Which may be helpful for some women but not as effective for others."
The one-day clinic also teaches the basics, like how to put earplugs in properly or how to determine which is, and to shoot with, your master eye (point to a tree on a hill, now close one eye, then the other. The eye you're using when the finger moves less is your master eye).
Women specifically find out how -- and why -- they often shoot with improper form; how they tend to lean back (because of the weight of the gun and a lack of upper-body strength), how, as a result, the rifle will kick more.
They learn to follow target with barrel and shoot, rather than point and shoot. They're also taught to match the right gun with the right sport, and the right ammunition with the right gun. For instance, with target shooting, you want ammo that leaves a clean ring and an easy-to-read score (and a bullet that doesn't expand). With hunting, you need bullets that can get through into the organs and then actually do expand, for a quicker, more humane death.
Lynch recalls that, the first time she shot a deer while out hunting, she was "in hysterics" because she thought she had missed after it ran off.
"I thought it was just wounded, and was worried it might get away. When we found the deer, we realized I had made a good lung hit, and the animal died quickly," she says. "It was traumatic. But it's a very dramatic experience of life and death."
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Lynch's family has hunted together, and she believes that hunting is not only an "ultimate family experience", but that, "it's a healthier way to live, especially if you eat what you've hunted. With all the hormones they put in the foods these days, what we do is much better."
Robin Bell, from Jackson, says her husband and son hunt, and she's taking the course because she says, "there are too many guns at home and I don't know how to shoot any of them."
She finds that, with all those guns in the house, she's more comfortable knowing gun awareness and safety.
"We are very careful when my son has friends over," she says. "Having the guns out is not an option. We lock them up, which we can always do, but I feel safer being able to handle one just in case."
Saiys Sacramento's Toni Aguayo, who had never shot a gun in her life before Sunday, even though her husband has guns: This class gives you more respect for the guns. You learn the history behind them. And you learn what you need to know if you have to handle one. You also learn a lot about the sport of it, how to have fun with a gun."
More information about the Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinic, contact Kathleen Lynch at 267-0385. For information on other Women On Target events, call 1-800-861-1166, or log on to www.nrahq.org.
Andrea Todd can be reached at 238-4537 or at [email protected].
-------------------- FIVE QUESTIONS --------------------
Five questions on shooting with Ashley Lynch, 18, a Purdue University student and winner of the top NRA Youth Education Summit Scholarship ($10,000)
1. How old were you when you started shooting? I got my first B.B. gun when I was 7 years old. I was in a shooting contest at a picnic, and I shot a log to pieces all the way through. And it was the first time I ever shot competitively. My dad loves to tell the story.
2. What was involved in competing for the National Rifle Association scholarship? I won the biggest scholarship they offered. About 50 students -- male and female -- from all across the United States were recruited from the various gun clubs and skeet teams. We were required to submit essays, letters of recommendation, all that. We spent five days in Washington D.C. at the Youth Education Summit, where we attended several lectures. We also learned a lot about the various NRA-sponsored programs, like Women on Target, Refuse To Be A Victim, and Eddie Eagle, their gun safety program for kids. We spent some time out in Quantico, Va., (the FBI Academy) as well.
3. Was this all about recruitment for the FBI or other NRA programs? I think it's certainly expected that most of the kids may have an interest in a career in law enforcement, or some other aspect of the NRA.
4. Gender-wise, what was this program like? It was pretty evenly-split. There were more boys than girls, but it wasn't as lopsided as you might think. I think girls are becoming more interested in the sport. For my 17th birthday, I took a bunch of girlfriends shooting out here on the range. They've been hearing about my shooting all our lives, and finally they were able to experience it firsthand. They had a blast.
5. So, no drunk, stupid frat boy would mess with you at college, right? (Laughing) Probably not. Guys are shocked that I'm so good. They think a girl who shoots and goes hunting for Thanksgiving dinner should look more like a man, I guess. I often shoot in a skirt, like Annie Oakley, and I wear my hair down on purpose, for that reason. It's too bad that the sport is automatically associated with so many political beliefs. I think it's the reason people won't have anything to do with guns, and I also think it's the reason some people become obsessed with them.