Women & Fear : Many Hear a Call to Arms

Cheryl Pruett decided to get a handgun when the Night Stalker, was on the loose. “I have a German shepherd, but I still felt uncomfortable,” the Orange County library employee said. “I’ve always lived alone, but this was the first time I started losing sleep.”

Pruett is no Rambette, but neither is she alone in owning a handgun for protection. Local firing ranges and gun shops report a distinct increase in the past two to three years, in women asking for lessons and buying guns. When the Beverly Hills Gun Club opened six years ago, women made up 40% to 45% of the students; classes now average 50% to 75% women.

Guns may have been the last bastion of machismo , but that is quickly changing. The typical female gun student, according to the firing ranges, used to be encouraged by a boyfriend or husband who wanted her to learn to use the gun kept at home. But now single women and single mothers, worried about their safety and free from social stigmas about gun ownership, are the ones signing up.

And the much-publicized attacks at home of Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and California Secretary of State March Fong Eu have once again raised the issue of women owning handguns for self-protection.

Ironically, this climate of concern comes at a time when local crime and handgun sales in general are both apparently declining.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s crime statistics show that most major crimes increased last year: forcible rape was up .5% from 1985 to 1986, homicide was up 6.9%, robbery was up 7.1%, burglaries were up .4%, vehicle theft was up 9.1%, and larceny was down 1.2%. But the unofficial count so far this year shows an overall drop of 4.8%.

Handgun sales have also decreased over the past year, according to figures compiled by the state Dept. of Justice in Sacramento. Sales of concealable firearms by licensed dealers in California went from 261,809 in 1984 to 274,212 in 1985 and then dropped to 254,479 last year. In Los Angeles County, sales rose from 86,780 in 1984 to 93,984 in 1985 and dropped to 82,968 last year.

Local firing ranges, however, report that in the past two to three years more women have signed up for lessons. Kent Fletcher, range master at the Beverly Hills Gun Club in West Los Angeles, said “In the six years I’ve been here, I can count on two hands the number of students who want to learn how to shoot strictly for sport. The vast majority are interested in keeping weapons for personal protection.”

The Firing Line shooting range in Huntington Beach, which opened five years ago, instituted “Ladies’ Day” where women can shoot all day for free. The percentage of women clients has risen from 3%-4% to 20% to 30%. And most of those who sign up for lessons do so for self-defense, according to general manager Jim Ness. “Everyone’s got their own reasons why they want to shoot,” he said, “but we do get some women who have just been accosted, or maybe they’re breaking up with their husbands or boyfriends and they’ve gotten threats.”

In the past three years, more women have been walking through the doors of the B&B; Sales gun shop in North Hollywood. Said a store spokesman, “Women realize you can’t wait for the police to take care of you. Before, a woman would come in coerced by her husband because he was involved with guns. But now you see them coming in alone. They start thinking for

themselves, discounting the myths and preconceptions about guns.”

Michelle Evans decided she should learn how to shoot when her husband decided to keep a gun in the house. “Otherwise, it’s a weapon that could be used against me,” the 23-year-old Orange County housewife said.

Knowing how to shoot affords her a certain sense of security, she said. “My husband goes away on business trips. A year ago I would have said I’d never use a gun. But now I know if I’m in a life-threatening situation I know it’s there.”

Denise Vakashoorpour of Costa Mesa learned how to shoot out of curiosity. “Basically I was afraid of guns,” she said. “My boyfriend would say he was going to practice with his, and finally I went with him.” She has been involved in local pistol competitions for the past 2 1/2 years.

“I didn’t feel any need for self-defense at first,” she added, “but as I started watching the news, I realized (a gun) could be used for that as well. I hope I never have to use it, but I do feel more confident knowing how to.”

“We’re talking about the first real flowering of the generation of the liberated woman,” said Massad Ayoob, a former police officer and internationally recognized pistol champion, who now runs the Lethal Force Institute in New Hampshire, a shooting and self-preservation training facility. “Owning a gun is part of taking control of your life, like taking control of your financial management,” Ayoob said. “It’s something that women are coming to terms with; if I am faced with a (potentially violent) situation, what are my options? Sometimes it comes down to controlled violence.” Some firearms manufacturers are also beginning to realize that there is a female market out there, vastly untapped. “We’re starting to seek women out more as customers,” said Michael Shypula, director of advertising and promotion for Smith & Wesson, which has been tracking buying trends among women for the past two years and is planning new marketing strategies accordingly.

Aware of Women Shooters

Other companies, such as Colt and Beretta, say they’ve been aware of women shooters for years, and manufacture smaller guns for them. But even Beretta, which has offered smaller-grip guns for at least 15 years, sees more potential in the current market. Said Warren Barron, sales manager for law enforcement training, “We have thought about possibly advertising in magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal to pinpoint a particular market.”

The Washington, D.C.-based National Rifle Assn. has featured women in its “I’m the NRA” ad campaign. And in 1983 the NRA’s Women’s Policies Committee developed a training program for women that now features 6,000 certified instructors nationwide. “We had a need for it,” said Tracey Martin, assistant manager for pistol training with the NRA. “People--mostly women--were contacting us, saying they were buying a gun for home defense and wanted to know the basics of how to use it.”

But courting the female market can prove controversial. The NRA has two pamphlets out oriented toward women; one titled “A Question of Self-Defense” features a blood-spattered cover and graphic descriptions of actual crimes against women. While the pamphlet discusses handguns for self-defense, it stresses that the NRA does not believe that’s the only means of self-defense, nor does it suggest that handguns should be purchased for that reason.

One anti-handgun lobbyist believes women are being sought after by firearms companies because sales are dropping. Barbara Lautman, director of communications for the Handgun Control Inc. lobbying group in Washington, D.C., said, “The gun lobbyists are really playing on women’s fears to get women to buy handguns. I do think it’s alarming. Women are increasingly afraid of violent crime, and it’s hard being a woman living in the city.”

Soon to be released in video stores and gun shops is “A Woman’s Guide to Firearms,” being touted as the first how-to video guide for women on the use of handguns. It stars Lee Purcell and Gerald McRaney and is distributed by Bianchi International, a holster manufacturer. The hourlong video offers a basic course in firearms, covering different kinds of guns, safety precautions and how-to-shoot tips and carries several disclaimers stressing the guide is no substitute for lessons on a firing range.