Women's Study Group at FAS
This weekend I helped teach a fun Women's Study Group at FAS. About a dozen women showed up for this inaugural event, and great fun was had by all.
We began the proceedings with a women's "Concealed Carry Fashion Show." With a fairly wide selection of holsters and guns, Gila and I took turns demo'ing various carry methods, including IWB, OWB, crossdraw, appendix, belly band, ankle, dedicated vest, pocket, and shoulder holster carry. The outfits we chose were all casual wear -- jeans, slacks, shorts, tee shirts, vests, and an occasional pretty blouse.
The guns ranged from a P32 ('it's just like a gun, only smaller'), a .38 snubby, a Glock 26, a Kahr P9, and on up to a full size 1911. (The NAA mini in .22 short and the Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 mag were both examples of what not to do, and thus I'm not mentioning them here.)
We made a conscious attempt to inject plenty of humor into the show, with plenty of tossed-in asides ("When a man tries on a holster, the first thing he asks is, 'Does this holster conceal my gun?' The first thing a woman asks is, 'Does this holster make me look fat?'") and lots of audience involvement. We had opportunities for each of the women who were carrying to stand up and take a stroll through the room as well.
During the show, we brought up a number of points about concealed carry, including
Each of the women were given a 'score sheet' which she could mark a location at any time she thought she saw a gun on one of the models. At the end of the show, we tallied up the results and discovered that even an entire roomful of people who know that the woman they are looking at has a gun on her body "somewhere" can rarely spot the gun.
At this point, I reminded each of the women that in real life, nobody knows in advance that they will be carrying a gun, nobody is looking for a gun or expecting to see one, and that if they don't give themselves away by tugging, pulling, or otherwise acting suspiciously weird, no one else is ever going to realize that they are carrying a gun.
At the end of the show, the women were given a contact sheet listing the types of holsters shown and where they could get them. Chris Cunningham, of Cunningham's Custom Leather , also handed out an info sheet about selecting a good holster. Chris was a great help in putting the show together and also modelled a few of her products for us.
After a lunch break, we adjourned to the range where we practiced drawing and firing from the holster at various distances. The range time was somewhat hampered by the wide variation of skill levels in the women who attended -- we ranged from complete beginners on up to a couple of ladies who had been shooting IPSC for years. Nevertheless, I think we did a pretty good job in balancing the needs of this varied group, and I heard afterward from several woman at both ends of the spectrum that they had found the range time profitable.
The day concluded with a 24-round team competition. The women were broken into two relays, the 'A' and 'B' teams, and each target was assigned a number. Shots were fired from 15, 10, and 7 yards, and from close-in while backing away from the target. The 15-yard shots were shot from behind cover; the 10-yard shots were fired from standing and from high and low kneeling; and the 7 yard shots were taken one-handed.
When the scores were totalled, there were no names attached to the invidual targets -- only the team marking & the target number. After totally the group scores, each woman picked up the score sheet which was marked with her target number so she could see how she, personally, scored. The only scores that were announced aloud were the group scores ('A team has 517 points, B team has 591 points'). All of this greatly minimized the amount of stress on each of our shooters, while still encouraging each woman to do her personal best.
All in all, it was a pretty good day.
Next time, the group will be doing a hands-on workshop of escapes from common holds, but I won't be helping with that one since I am taking FAS-5 that same weekend. The one after that, I'm putting together a discussion about the safety choices women make and why they make the choices they do, and the range time will primarily cover decision-making.
pax
I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand. -- Susan B. Anthony
This weekend I helped teach a fun Women's Study Group at FAS. About a dozen women showed up for this inaugural event, and great fun was had by all.
We began the proceedings with a women's "Concealed Carry Fashion Show." With a fairly wide selection of holsters and guns, Gila and I took turns demo'ing various carry methods, including IWB, OWB, crossdraw, appendix, belly band, ankle, dedicated vest, pocket, and shoulder holster carry. The outfits we chose were all casual wear -- jeans, slacks, shorts, tee shirts, vests, and an occasional pretty blouse.
The guns ranged from a P32 ('it's just like a gun, only smaller'), a .38 snubby, a Glock 26, a Kahr P9, and on up to a full size 1911. (The NAA mini in .22 short and the Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 mag were both examples of what not to do, and thus I'm not mentioning them here.)
We made a conscious attempt to inject plenty of humor into the show, with plenty of tossed-in asides ("When a man tries on a holster, the first thing he asks is, 'Does this holster conceal my gun?' The first thing a woman asks is, 'Does this holster make me look fat?'") and lots of audience involvement. We had opportunities for each of the women who were carrying to stand up and take a stroll through the room as well.
During the show, we brought up a number of points about concealed carry, including
- What to do if someone wants to hug you
- Prints, solids, and fabric weights
- How women's figures are different from men's, and how that affects where we can realistically (and comfortably) conceal a weapon
- Excuses to buy new outfits that any gun-loving husband will accept
- Accessories such as chunky, eye-catching necklaces and other distractions to draw eyes away from your waist
- Being comfortable when you are carrying
- And a bunch of other stuff that I forget right now but which was pretty good at the time.
Each of the women were given a 'score sheet' which she could mark a location at any time she thought she saw a gun on one of the models. At the end of the show, we tallied up the results and discovered that even an entire roomful of people who know that the woman they are looking at has a gun on her body "somewhere" can rarely spot the gun.
At this point, I reminded each of the women that in real life, nobody knows in advance that they will be carrying a gun, nobody is looking for a gun or expecting to see one, and that if they don't give themselves away by tugging, pulling, or otherwise acting suspiciously weird, no one else is ever going to realize that they are carrying a gun.
At the end of the show, the women were given a contact sheet listing the types of holsters shown and where they could get them. Chris Cunningham, of Cunningham's Custom Leather , also handed out an info sheet about selecting a good holster. Chris was a great help in putting the show together and also modelled a few of her products for us.
After a lunch break, we adjourned to the range where we practiced drawing and firing from the holster at various distances. The range time was somewhat hampered by the wide variation of skill levels in the women who attended -- we ranged from complete beginners on up to a couple of ladies who had been shooting IPSC for years. Nevertheless, I think we did a pretty good job in balancing the needs of this varied group, and I heard afterward from several woman at both ends of the spectrum that they had found the range time profitable.
The day concluded with a 24-round team competition. The women were broken into two relays, the 'A' and 'B' teams, and each target was assigned a number. Shots were fired from 15, 10, and 7 yards, and from close-in while backing away from the target. The 15-yard shots were shot from behind cover; the 10-yard shots were fired from standing and from high and low kneeling; and the 7 yard shots were taken one-handed.
When the scores were totalled, there were no names attached to the invidual targets -- only the team marking & the target number. After totally the group scores, each woman picked up the score sheet which was marked with her target number so she could see how she, personally, scored. The only scores that were announced aloud were the group scores ('A team has 517 points, B team has 591 points'). All of this greatly minimized the amount of stress on each of our shooters, while still encouraging each woman to do her personal best.
All in all, it was a pretty good day.
Next time, the group will be doing a hands-on workshop of escapes from common holds, but I won't be helping with that one since I am taking FAS-5 that same weekend. The one after that, I'm putting together a discussion about the safety choices women make and why they make the choices they do, and the range time will primarily cover decision-making.
pax
I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand. -- Susan B. Anthony
