Women With Weapons – (Lots) More Than You’d Think

A new book features thought-provoking photos of American women who choose to use guns, and notes that a surprisingly large number of women carry them. How large? Well, based on gun-sale statistics and poll results, between fifteen and twenty million American women own guns.

Lindsay McCrum, author and photographer of Chicks With Guns, notes she learned two big lessons while putting the book together; "One is that on the subject of guns, nobody is neutral. And the other is that when you get outside the blue-state cities, everyone has a gun".

McCrum's subjects are from every part of America. Some are or were in law enforcement, but most are women who for whatever reason became interested in using and owning firearms. Some are senior citizens, others still in high school. Rich and poor are part of the book, as well as every social class inbetween.

Chicks With Guns stays neutral on a variety of hot-button issues related to gun ownership, letting the women give their opinions. One subject, a former police officer who investigated sexual assault and domestic violence cases, admits she keeps a gun in her night stand, safety off, ready to fire. She adds, however, that if she were a parent, she would never keep a loaded gun anywhere in her home. Another woman, a 911 dispatcher and a single mother of two, took her children to see what a gun could do. She said the noise scared them, as well as the damage the gun did to her target, a watermellon. But she believes it scared them from playing with her gun if they were to find it.

Do you own a firearm - pistol, rifle or shotgun? If not, have you thought about getting one? And why did you decide not to? If so, how do you keep it stored? Have you talked to your kids about gun safety? Would you consider enrolling them in shooting classes? We want to hear from you, either here or on our Facebook page.