We’ve brought you stories about those in our community as they built up skills of situational awareness and self-defense . This week we’re meeting one group of women who’ve turned to the gun range in the name of safety.
Virginia Beach firearms instructor Joel Jones showed a group of roughly 20 women how to use guns Saturday at Strong Arms Gun Club.
Everyone had a different reason for wanting to learn.
“Especially with things going on like shootings in stores. You can be grocery shopping and anything can happen, so I just want to be safe and protect my children as well,” said Raleesha Hinton, of Virginia Beach.
“I’m also a real estate agent so kind of the same thing, we go out meeting clients, or sometimes late nights driving around on my own,” said Pamela Maldonado of Virginia Beach.
“I want to legally carry and know the laws to carry and just be safe about it,” said Adrienne Thoroughgood of Virginia Beach .
And they’re not alone. In 2013 only 13 percent of gun owners were women. That’s now grown to 22 percent, according to Pew researchers. That same study says women are most likely to cite protection, rather than recreation, as the reason they own a gun.