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.