Drizzt
Member
Women hone skills with guns
By Connie Cartmell, [email protected]
When she was a young girl growing up with three sisters and one brother in the country, Beverly Stacy clearly remembers her father taking her brother shooting.
But, he never took her, or her sisters.
“That’s the generation I grew up in,” Stacy said. “Things certainly have turned around.”
It may not be an Annie Oakley or wild wild west world, but women today are hoisting gun barrels and shooting targets and game in increasingly large numbers and with the best of men.
In fact, the new president of the National Rifle Association is a woman.
“We now have top-notch shooters, who are women,” Beverly Stacy said with pride.
There is a magazine for women shooters, also published by the NRA, and the group has designated a portion of its Web site to women.
“We’re seeing a lot more women joining our group, probably up 20 percent over five years ago,” Stacy said. “I think part of it is due to the Ohio Concealed Carry Law, enacted recently. They are taking the classes. The rest is due to security issues.”
Paul and Beverly Stacy are active members and officers in the Fort Harmar Gun Club, the largest club in the area. He is director and she is treasurer. The club has two local gun ranges, one indoor range for handguns in Oak Grove, the large outdoor range for rifle, shotguns, and handguns, three miles off Ohio 26 on 15 Mile Creek Road in the eastern part of the county.
There are about 250 members in the club.
“I’m a very active person,” Beverly Stacy said. “When my husband and I retired from our business five years ago, he went back to shooting. I’d never shot a gun in my life. I was all thumbs.”
Paul Stacy became more active in the gun club and went shooting every Sunday.
“I told him, ‘Hello... I’m not sitting home alone every Sunday,’” she said. “It was like, join him or sit home alone. I’m a joiner.”
Like thousands of other women in recent years, Bev Stacy set out to learn the fine art of firearms — and she did.
“I’m an old-timer, married 40 years,” she said. “I do it because of my husband, but now I’m competing with him.”
She is seeing in the new blood coming up that the women today are far different from those who joined only because of their husbands only a few years ago. This trend is something quite different.
“I see more women taking up shooting and firearms for self-defense, confidence, and security,” she said. “Once they get into it, maybe get their concealed carry, they learn that it’s fun.”
In fact, women are bringing their husbands to the range and getting them started, she said.
The Ohio Concealed Carry Law has done more than anything in recent years to introduce women to firearms, Beverly Stacy said.
“Concealed carry definitely has helped,” she said. “We want women to know how to handle that gun. We don’t need guns in homes without people knowing how to handle them.”
For Deborah Huck, director of the criminal justice program at Washington State Community College, firearms are certainly not foreign.
Huck is a shooter.
“I joined the Fort Harmar Gun Club when we moved here five years ago,” Huck said. “but I’d been shooting long before that.”
As a member of the Ohio Parole Board, Huck traveled a great deal, mostly alone.
“I got interested in guns for my own safety,” she said. “I thought I better arm myself, and know what I was doing.”
Today, shooting at the pistol range at the gun club is for fun.
“It’s a hobby,” Huck said. “My husband and I go out for fun. It’s a great release for tension and I’ve gotten a renewed interest in it lately.”
She believes that it is important for everyone — women and men — to be proficient in firearms and to know how to handle a gun safely.
Washington State recently began a program called the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy (OPOTA). Cadets are required to qualify with a variety of firearms.
Women are beginning to fill non-traditional roles, Huck said, and this program may be one of them.
“This is just one avenue to follow,” she said.
She believes women can be better shooters than men.
“Women, in general, have better eye-hand coordination,” she said. “And women can have better breath control.”
Paul Stacy encouraged his wife to take up firearms and sport shooting and he is convinced there is not much difference between men and women when it comes to target shooting.
“The big thing is every shooter needs to practice,” he said. “You can’t get your CCW (concealed carry) and then put the gun away in a case and forget about it. You got to be shooting regularly to feel comfortable.”
The Stacys encourage those who have qualified for CCW to join Fort Harmar Rifle Club to keep skills sharp and meet new friends. The group promotes pistol shoots and regular competition “cowboy” shoots.
The range is home to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Marietta Police, and Washington State Community College for qualifying.
More women than ever before are becoming firearms instructors too, Stacy said.
“We’re getting a lot more women in and seeing more women joining on their own — without husbands,” Bev Stacy said. “Once they get a feel for it, they stay.”
About Fort Harmar
Gun Club
It’s located three miles off Ohio 26 on 15 Mile Creek Road, and is the largest gun club in southeastern Ohio. Facilities include an outdoor pistol (25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 yards), indoor pistol (50 feet), outdoor rifle (up to 300 yards), indoor rifle (50 feet), rifle silhouette, pistol silhouette, muzzleloading, trap, and sporting clays.
The club also has an indoor range at Oak Grove.
Membership: 250.
Meetings are the first Wednesday of the month at the indoor range in Oak Grove.
Source: Fort Harmar Gun Club.
Ohio Concealed Carry law requirements
The law requires at least 10 hours of certified training in the following:
The ability to name, explain, and demonstrate the rules for safe handling of a handgun and proper storage practices for handguns and ammunition.
The ability to demonstrate and explain how to handle ammunition in a safe manner.
The ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary to shoot a handgun in a safe manner.
Gun-handling training.
Two hours of practical training, including range time and live-fire experience.
Complete an examination that tests his or her competency.
http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new11_410200680306.asp
By Connie Cartmell, [email protected]
When she was a young girl growing up with three sisters and one brother in the country, Beverly Stacy clearly remembers her father taking her brother shooting.
But, he never took her, or her sisters.
“That’s the generation I grew up in,” Stacy said. “Things certainly have turned around.”
It may not be an Annie Oakley or wild wild west world, but women today are hoisting gun barrels and shooting targets and game in increasingly large numbers and with the best of men.
In fact, the new president of the National Rifle Association is a woman.
“We now have top-notch shooters, who are women,” Beverly Stacy said with pride.
There is a magazine for women shooters, also published by the NRA, and the group has designated a portion of its Web site to women.
“We’re seeing a lot more women joining our group, probably up 20 percent over five years ago,” Stacy said. “I think part of it is due to the Ohio Concealed Carry Law, enacted recently. They are taking the classes. The rest is due to security issues.”
Paul and Beverly Stacy are active members and officers in the Fort Harmar Gun Club, the largest club in the area. He is director and she is treasurer. The club has two local gun ranges, one indoor range for handguns in Oak Grove, the large outdoor range for rifle, shotguns, and handguns, three miles off Ohio 26 on 15 Mile Creek Road in the eastern part of the county.
There are about 250 members in the club.
“I’m a very active person,” Beverly Stacy said. “When my husband and I retired from our business five years ago, he went back to shooting. I’d never shot a gun in my life. I was all thumbs.”
Paul Stacy became more active in the gun club and went shooting every Sunday.
“I told him, ‘Hello... I’m not sitting home alone every Sunday,’” she said. “It was like, join him or sit home alone. I’m a joiner.”
Like thousands of other women in recent years, Bev Stacy set out to learn the fine art of firearms — and she did.
“I’m an old-timer, married 40 years,” she said. “I do it because of my husband, but now I’m competing with him.”
She is seeing in the new blood coming up that the women today are far different from those who joined only because of their husbands only a few years ago. This trend is something quite different.
“I see more women taking up shooting and firearms for self-defense, confidence, and security,” she said. “Once they get into it, maybe get their concealed carry, they learn that it’s fun.”
In fact, women are bringing their husbands to the range and getting them started, she said.
The Ohio Concealed Carry Law has done more than anything in recent years to introduce women to firearms, Beverly Stacy said.
“Concealed carry definitely has helped,” she said. “We want women to know how to handle that gun. We don’t need guns in homes without people knowing how to handle them.”
For Deborah Huck, director of the criminal justice program at Washington State Community College, firearms are certainly not foreign.
Huck is a shooter.
“I joined the Fort Harmar Gun Club when we moved here five years ago,” Huck said. “but I’d been shooting long before that.”
As a member of the Ohio Parole Board, Huck traveled a great deal, mostly alone.
“I got interested in guns for my own safety,” she said. “I thought I better arm myself, and know what I was doing.”
Today, shooting at the pistol range at the gun club is for fun.
“It’s a hobby,” Huck said. “My husband and I go out for fun. It’s a great release for tension and I’ve gotten a renewed interest in it lately.”
She believes that it is important for everyone — women and men — to be proficient in firearms and to know how to handle a gun safely.
Washington State recently began a program called the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy (OPOTA). Cadets are required to qualify with a variety of firearms.
Women are beginning to fill non-traditional roles, Huck said, and this program may be one of them.
“This is just one avenue to follow,” she said.
She believes women can be better shooters than men.
“Women, in general, have better eye-hand coordination,” she said. “And women can have better breath control.”
Paul Stacy encouraged his wife to take up firearms and sport shooting and he is convinced there is not much difference between men and women when it comes to target shooting.
“The big thing is every shooter needs to practice,” he said. “You can’t get your CCW (concealed carry) and then put the gun away in a case and forget about it. You got to be shooting regularly to feel comfortable.”
The Stacys encourage those who have qualified for CCW to join Fort Harmar Rifle Club to keep skills sharp and meet new friends. The group promotes pistol shoots and regular competition “cowboy” shoots.
The range is home to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Marietta Police, and Washington State Community College for qualifying.
More women than ever before are becoming firearms instructors too, Stacy said.
“We’re getting a lot more women in and seeing more women joining on their own — without husbands,” Bev Stacy said. “Once they get a feel for it, they stay.”
About Fort Harmar
Gun Club
It’s located three miles off Ohio 26 on 15 Mile Creek Road, and is the largest gun club in southeastern Ohio. Facilities include an outdoor pistol (25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 yards), indoor pistol (50 feet), outdoor rifle (up to 300 yards), indoor rifle (50 feet), rifle silhouette, pistol silhouette, muzzleloading, trap, and sporting clays.
The club also has an indoor range at Oak Grove.
Membership: 250.
Meetings are the first Wednesday of the month at the indoor range in Oak Grove.
Source: Fort Harmar Gun Club.
Ohio Concealed Carry law requirements
The law requires at least 10 hours of certified training in the following:
The ability to name, explain, and demonstrate the rules for safe handling of a handgun and proper storage practices for handguns and ammunition.
The ability to demonstrate and explain how to handle ammunition in a safe manner.
The ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary to shoot a handgun in a safe manner.
Gun-handling training.
Two hours of practical training, including range time and live-fire experience.
Complete an examination that tests his or her competency.
http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new11_410200680306.asp