Making CISSA "Herstory"

On 22 March 2015, I hosted an event at the Cayman Islands Sport Shooting Association range entitled "Safety On And Ready: A Woman's Guide To Firearms" as a fundraiser for my training and participation in competitions abroad.

My perception was that there was a significant interest from women to learn how to shoot but for some reason or another it was difficult for them to find their way to the range.

I will clarify, particularly for those of you reading this outside the Cayman Islands, that Cayman has strict gun control laws and CISSA is a members only club that has existed for over 30 years.  Despite the recent efforts to increase membership, there was still a very low number of female participants even for what is known to be a predominately male sport.

This made me curious and my gut reaction was that holding an all women's shooting event at the range would be a unique event that mutually benefited my fundraising efforts as well as CISSA's desire to have more female participation.

As I began to promote the event amongst my female friends the responses I got varied. Some loved the idea while others, who I mistakenly thought would enjoy it, informed me that guns were not their thing and politely declined.

Of course I knew that firearms are one the most controversial topics ever and I didn't expect everyone to love shooting the way I did but I was profoundly curious why this wasn't "their thing".  Was it because they felt that guns were bad? Did they think that they couldn't handle something they saw as being very powerful? Or was it just anxiety about being around a bunch of male strangers with firearms? I wanted to know!

After some thought and research I decided that this event had to be about so much more than a fun fundraiser. It needed to be inspiring and meaningful. It needed to get up close and personal with how women felt about firearms. It needed to give women the opportunity to have a safe and comfortable experience to draw their conclusion of like or dislike from. One that would leave them feeling more knowledgeable and empowered regardless of their views.

So with that in mind I wrote a message on my event blog stating that I completely accepted each woman's views about firearms and invited them to come out anyway. I also promised them that whatever view they walked in with, by the end of this session they would take away something valuable from this experience and have a better understanding of firearms and their place in our community.

On the big day, we had 24 women attend including Her Excellency, Governor Helen Kilpatrick. The participants ranged in experience, age and views, wrapped up with a flurry of excitement and anxiety.

After a brief presentation we split into groups. While one group was shooting under the care of CISSA's certified Range Officers the rest of us were engaged in conversation as to what they hoped to gain from the experience and learning about other women's experiences with firearms as well as some frivolous photo ops.

By the end of the day I had learned so much about the women in my community and they had learned so much about themselves. Some women had had negative experiences in the past and used this opportunity to face their fears. Other's while being nervous to begin with left with a new feeling of empowerment. There were also a few who were unsure of how they felt but allowed themselves to experience a something new and explore a new part of themselves. These women were all very brave and I thank them for allowing me to share this experience with them.

I know that if these ladies decide to apply for membership at CISSA or want to visit a shooting range in another country they will have some exposure and won't feel as anxious next time. Or if for some reason they find themself in a room with a gun they can safely get it out their way. And if they decide that guns aren't their thing after all they know exactly why not.

So in the midst of international women's history month, what started out as a simple fundraiser to assist me in realizing my dreams turned into something extraordinary. 

On 22 March 2015, with the help of my CISSA family, my immediate family and a couple of friends, we made history by making CISSA her story.

Special Event: Safety On And Ready - A Woman's Guide To Firearms

I can't tell you how excited I am about the women's event I am hosting on the range next weekend 22 March 2015, Safety On And Ready - A Woman's Guide To Firearms. 

I want my fellow females to be armed with knowledge and confidence about the topic of firearms. For more info click here.

Those who know me, know I'm about great things and making a difference.  This my friends is different. There has never been an event like it at CISSA.

The feed back has been so encouraging and I can't wait to see you all.  Space is limited and on a first come basis.  Click here to buy your ticket now.

Breakfast of Champions

You know you're addicted to range life when you come there at 8 am on your day off to have breakfast, train and by chance observe some shotgun science.

We are lucky to have an enthusiastic member who is genius at building and designing fun courses and props for our competitions. I have affectionately dubbed him our resident "Bob The Builder", which he hates and makes it all the more fun to tease him with. 

Bob was also there that morning working on a course design and needed to do some research on the spread/pattern of the pellets that is formed when using different shotgun chokes. While I was waiting for the others to arrive to start target pistol training, I took in my breakfast and a lesson.

Meanwhile, Bob set up a series of cardboard targets at 10, 18 and 30 yards down range. Then he went at them with the modified and full choke tubes to see what would happen. The results were self explanatory...

I have to admit that my nerdy side found this fun. It was great for me as a shotgun novice to understand the effects of using a choke. (Choke tubes are short inner tubes of various diameters that are inserted into the shotgun muzzle.)

There are various size choke tubes between using the just the bare barrel with no choke and using an extra full choke tube.  The basic point is that the closer you get to full choke the tighter the pattern for a longer distance.  (There is lots of info online but I found this site particularly quick and helpful if you're looking to learn more http://www.briley.com/understandingshotgunchokesabriefexplanationbybriley.aspx)

Additionally, the particular shooting event will determine what type of pattern want to achieve and which choke to use. For a tactical shotgun course with still clay targets placed close together at about 15 yards away, we went with full choke for accuracy.

Now, the whole purpose of this excercise was to determine what would be safest and best way to use the shotgun in the three gun comp that was days away.  Therefore, it would have been remiss of me not to have spent a little time with the semi auto shotgun... after all I was there to train, right?

All I can say is that those babies are sweet. Talk about a breakfast of champions.  :)

I love range life.

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