GIRL MEETS GUN
What's Up with the Influx of Femme-y Firearms?
Part I: GunPowder Puff
Women have long been used to sell guns, either intentionally or subliminally. Pulpy images of misanthropic molls -rolled cigarette between their teeth- drawing their single shot from a thigh holster screamed off the molted covers of 1940s “detective” novels. Indelible film moments of girly gun mayhem have seared our collective consciousness. Luc Besson’s memorable LA FEMME NIKITA found Anne Parillaud in heels and pearls desperately running through Paris’ cobblestone streets trailed by assassins - a fearsome Desert Eagle .50 dangling from her hand. These were the kind of visuals meant to sate male firearm fantasies and perhaps stoke subconscious fears that men weren’t really the ones in charge. For the less insecure male, a woman who handles a firearm with dexterity and ruthlessness equal to their XY chromosome counterpart might be considered sexy, predatory and virile.
Why is that no one has realized (until just recently) that women themselves are susceptible to the same powerful imagery of cold steel and hot blood? Women love guns. But the appeal of fantasy is suddenly becoming reality.
The statistics are clear. American women are buying more guns. A lot of guns. Not as presents for their husbands or boyfriends, but for themselves. What the statistics don’t reveal is why. During 2009, in Texas alone, 30,000 women obtained concealed carry holster permits. The trade organization that tabulates gun shop sales in America estimates there was a 73 percent surge in firearms purchases by women in 2009 alone. 73%?! Either there were some great sales on handguns, free Jojoba skin care cleanser given away with every gun purchase, or something sociologically interesting is afoot in America.
The recent feminine interest in spiraled steel has been percolating for a long time. Political groups and firearms manufacturers, in an attempt to cast off the traditional beer-gut boys club image of gun ownership, have been pitching to women for quite some time now. When the firearms market for white males became saturated in the late 1980s, gun makers naturally fixed their sites on the other half of the population to boost profits. At about the same time, The National Rifle Association, incited by restrictions in the Brady Bill gun laws, began pursuing an aggressive campaign in Washington to expand, not just preserve, gun ownership rights. It appears that these efforts have started to bear fruit in the form of increased female gun ownership. National Public Radio and the New York Times, media outlets skeptical of 2nd Amendment expansion, have recently featured stories on the female firearm phenomenon. Both chose a rather cursory approach that focused on gun manufacturers’ efforts to market specifically to women. The Times, for example, featured a magazine spread with pink and mauve purse-sized handguns complete with smaller grips and modified triggers to accommodate more delicate female fingers. The suggestion being that a lethal weapon the same color as your childhood stuffed bunny appears less threatening to women. But could women be that easy of a sell? After all, we haven’t seen any PowerPuff Edition Mini Coopers flying out the showrooms lately.
And then there’s the NRA, America’s most formidable political lobby. Their targeting of women seems to be a central pillar of a broader mission to expand gun ownership in America. The organization has an entire division dedicated to firearm education and socialization for women. Their website caters to every major facet of female gun ownership: hunting, target shooting, self-defense. But the NRA’s outreach to women has been part of a more gradual evolution. The organization’s early appeals to women in the 1990s fixated almost solely on self-defense. NRA messaging reminded women of their physical inferiority to men and implied they were constantly vulnerable to attack if they did not arm themselves. Skeptics argue that the NRA’s agenda to protect women is not motivated by altruism. Co-opting women into the gun culture, it is argued, is the magic bullet the NRA believes will forever stifle gun regulation. What Congressperson is going to put his/her reelection bid up for grabs over legislation that would deny a helpless female her right to defend her person with a firearm?
Part II - Aiming High Heels
Recent statistical evidence seems to support the theory that the NRA’s strategy is working. According the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 80% of women who purchased guns in 2009 bought specifically for self-protection. A mere 34% bought a weapon for the stated purpose of target shooting and a paltry 24% for hunting. Yet even a statistical novice would point out that the study’s percentages add up to 138%. Either the NSSF’s accounting people flunked macro-economics, or women actually intend to use their newly purchased firearm for more than just warding off would-be attackers.
Other studies have suggested a rising perception of crime in the U.S. is motivating the surge in female-purchased firearms. While the past few years have not seen any statistically significant increases in crime levels, historically Gallup polls suggest that disaffection in America - as there is now with a stalled economy and political gridlock - escalates perceptions of danger and crime in the minds of Americans. The fact that 79% of Americans (many women, no doubt) are dissatisfied with the direction our country has taken in recent years could be undermining the reality of stable crime rates. 
It has also been suggested that much of the political polarization that traditionally accompanies an election year may be behind the increase in women’s gun purchases. Barack Obama’s opponents insisted the new President was intent on placing further restrictions on the ownership of handguns. Of course, many of President’s critics insisted they would move out of the country if he was elected, but never used their frequent flyer miles (if the airlines were still handing them out). And as one female gun blogger has pointed out, fear as a motivator can be powerful, but it can’t perform miracles. If repeated natural disasters haven’t initiated a run on emergency kits, then it seems unlikely that fear of gun confiscation or physical harm has abetted the rise in gun sales to women.
Gun clubs reinventing themselves to better connect with women is indicative of the new dimension driving female gun ownership: the social dimension. In the pre-Suffragette, pre-iPhone society of the last century, shooting excursions to remote locations were a source of male bonding and socializing. It seems that women are after the same thing, with a uniquely feminine twist. DivaWow organizes shooting parties where woman are encouraged to bring their weapon and wear their best diva dress. The aptly named BabesandBullets.com sponsors “Swim and Shoot’ parties where the best target shooter is awarded a tin princess tiara. 
So perhaps, at the end of the day, when all the analysis has been exhausted; after all the the pundits have professed, it appears that women are buying more firearms simply because, like other hobbies, guns offer the opportunity for them to connect with other women who share their interests. The transformation of women from objectified gun sellers to gun buyers seems to be a natural expansion of our traditional ideals of femininity. Women have discovered that social opportunities formerly limited to the community of men are actually a lot of fun. And fun is probably the best human motivator of all.
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