Studies show more women of color are becoming gun owners

SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) - The typical gun owner is changing.

" I have seen more women have started coming into the field of owning and shooting guns in the last few years,” Blackbeard Armory and Range owner, Tap Smith said.

According to The National Shooting Sports Foundation, there’s been a 77% increase in female gun ownership from 2005 to 2020, and now another trend is emerging.

Over the past few years, more women of color have been buying guns.

It’s a trend experts say started during the pandemic.

Smith says civil unrests could partly be the reason why.

“We see large riots and scales of something that we’ve not really seen in this nation before, and it seems that the law breakers seem to go unpunished, and so a lot of people are thinking, well, it’s up to me to provide for my own security and my family’s welfare,” Smith said.

Denison resident, Teresa Prince said she’s a long time gun owner.

“I’m out a lot by myself with my kids, and I kind of feel like it would be nice thing for more women, especially minority women, and to be comfortable with it,” Prince said.

Smith said he’s also seeing more women take the extra step in gun safety.

“Most of our safety classes are made up of a lot of ladies who realize maybe a little bit smarter than some of us, men that realize they don’t know everything safety or proficient wise about their firearms. so, they do come to these classes,” Smith explained.

“Coming up here definitely got me to a point where I’m like, okay, I feel a lot better. I know I can handle it safely,” Prince said.

Shooting down old stereotypes of the traditional gun owners.

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