1-in-3 first-time gun buyers are women

Hot Springs, Arkansas – The Firearm Industry Trade Association (NSSF) reports that more women are purchasing firearms. In fact, their research reveals that women made up one in three first-time gun buyers.

Hot Springs’ gun store has noticed this pattern.

Arego’s Guns in Hot Springs has been operated by Erin and her husband Roger Latsha since 2015. They have noticed a change in the customers that come in to acquire guns during that period.

Almost 20,000 people visited Arego’s in total in 2015, with 6% of them being female.

Not only did the industry sell more guns in 2021 than it had six years prior, but there were also three times as many women buying guns.

“If anybody gets mugged, or raped, or murdered, or anything that happens, you know immediately as soon as it happens; because it’s all over your phone, it’s all over the TV, it’s all over your computer,” Erin said. “That’s scary.”

Women are now purchasing firearms for a variety of purposes, from hunting with larger rifles to self-defense with smaller revolvers.

“We have a lot more women hunters than we did in the past,” Erin said. “We have a lot more women getting into competition shootings.”

The number of women’s organizations instructing other women on how to use firearms has increased, according to Roger. He also attributed the increase to manufacturers expanding their female target market.

“There are a lot more women groups that are teaching women,” Roger said. “The manufacturers are making more guns geared towards women.”

It is advised that first-time gun buyers do their study on the kind of gun that will suit them the best and receive shooting instructions.

The FBI has performed over 28 million background checks on gun owners so far this year, and women have recently made up around 40% of gun transactions.