Aiming for Gun Safety
Women learn to feel at home on the shooting range
By Greg Botonis
Staff Writer
LANCASTER -- Combining gun safety with shooting practice, 30 women took aim Saturday in a class to help them feel comfortable with a firearm in the home.
Hosted by Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, and state Sen. William "Pete" Knight, R-Palmdale, the event at The Gun Shop was only the second in the state to be sponsored by the Second Amendment Sisters, a firearm advocacy group.
"At first I was a little nervous but after a while I was very comfortable," said Theresa Quintana, of Palmdale. "My husband signed me up for the course because, in case he's not around, he wants me to know how to fire it."
Runner, a novice shooter, scored well during target practice and began the paperwork to buy a handgun of her own.
The Second Amendment Sisters describes itself as "a women's advocacy group dedicated to preserving the basic human right of self-defense, and to giving attention to the vital role the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution plays in protecting that right."
The 5-year-old group hopes to host workshops all over the country within the next couple of years to educate women in how to use firearms for self-defense.
"My gun is very important to me and the safety of my family," SAS State Coordinator Emily Berg said. "We want women to stand up and say, 'Hey, I have an opinion about firearms."'
That's both great, and the saddest thing in the story. Why should a woman, or a man for that matter, have to do "paperwork" that is so burdensome that she could only "begin" it, just to buy a tool to protect herself and to get some recreational pleasure from? Especially in a country whose Constitution states "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed".