Results of my firearms survey and study

[Annie Oakley]

So I have completed my tutorial and had my final board meeting today. It went extremely well and I wanted to share my findings with all of you and to thank those of you who participated once again. It went so well that they even want me to try to get it published (If anyone knows of any good journals for this typre of material PLEASE let me know)!

It is pretty lengthy so below are the main takeaways. If you want the full report, just pm me.

• There are five steps in the product adoption process 1) Awareness 2) Interest 3) Evaluation 4) Trial 5) Adoption. Women have significant difficulties in every step except awareness when it comes to firearms.

• Females are less likely to purchase a firearm in the future than males

• Females consider more firearms aspects as important when shopping as compared to males (6 vs. 4) and have significant difficulty in finding information on the majority of those aspects

• 95% of females identified personal protection as the main reason for purchasing a firearm but 13% responded that other products are either the same as or superior to a firearm when considering protection

• Females find it extremely important to try a firearm before they buy it but find it extremely difficult to do so.

All of these findings help to explain the stagnant firearm ownership rates of among females over the past twenty nine years or so. The current firearms product adoption process is not built with females in mind. Females have different needs in almost all steps of the process that are not being met.

With firearms the product adoption process does not go in order and a trial often comes first in the way of being invited to a shooting range by a friend or renting a gun at the local shooting range to unwind or blow off steam.

A person needs to be able to touch, feel, hold and shoot the gun to be able to get an idea of how well that particular firearm fits the needs of comfort/feel in hand, accuracy, ease of operation and ease of concealment.

So how do we get more women to try firearms?

• Organized and promoted events around the release of new firearms. Women could be invited to ranges where free demonstrations, trials and education take place complete with refreshments and socialization with other female shooters.

• Group or party discounts at ranges

• More female targeted training classes that allow females to try out a variety of firearms in various calibers and sizes

• Model after Smith and Wesson who placed female representatives in stores to assist other females in the buying process and staffed a free hotline with women to answer questions when they released the LadySmith

• More females behind the counters

[Curmudgeon]

Having just gone through the process of selecting a firearm that is a good match for Mrs. Curmudgeon, I am very interested in reading through this.

Before I finish reading, I just wanted to rep you. Thank you!

[mak47]

A few years ago the "adult entertainment industry" explored the same concept. Men were interested in their products, and almost all of them were marketed as such.

Over the last 10 years or so many stores that offered these goods began hosting "ladies only nights". All of the staff on hand were female, and no men were allowed in the stores. They felt that this would make women more comfortable coming in to shop, because they wouldn't feel intimidated or embarassed in front of all the men hanging around.

Long story short, it worked. Adult novelty items, gadgets, and media targeted toward women have become very mainstream.

I'm sure the advent of the internet didn't hurt either.

Personally, I've introduced a few women to guns. Without fail, they always want to go out and buy whatever I had them shoot. It doesn't really matter what the gun is, it's the fact that they've been able to handle it and now feel confident in their ability to do so that makes them want to make a purchase.

I'd suggest trying to round up some people here to host "ladies nights" at local ranges. If a few people with larger collections would be willing to come out and show others the basics of various guns, it might help get more women involved.

Unlike the aforementioned industry, I don't think that having men around is particularly intimidating (sleazy porno shops are a bit different) and I also think that it would be a better experience to learn about guns without having a salesperson over your shoulder.

Any thoughts?

[ErSwnn]

Well done Annie! My other half is getting her LTCF first opportunity that comes along and will be in the market for a suitable firearm. This certainly gives me the knowledge to assist her in that choice, having a better idea of how she might be seeing things. This information will make HER choice of firearm HERS. Since I happen to know more about them I was leaning towards my supposedly better ability to choose one for her. Thanks for straightening me out on that. I was heading towards what I like and yet would work for her. I see I had better stay out of it and answer questions instead of expressing unasked opinions.

[Sandcut]

Well, Annie. It sounds like what you need to do is round up some investment capital and open a line of shops/ranges that do for guns what Curves did for excercising. A "women only" range/shop. Hell, if people pay to belong to an indoor dog walking facility, this idea would surely take off in the appropriate market.