Jim Shepherd's June 11th feature/commentary from The Shooting Wire:

Growth Not Always Indicative of the Positive

Women, it seems, are flocking to the ranges to learn more about firearms. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, enrollment in self-protection handgun classes is at an all-time high, especially among women.

Recognition of a pent-up desire of women to learn more about firearms, the NSSF launched their First Shots program two years ago, bringing an introduction to handgun shooting course to cooperating shooting ranges across the country.

In the classes, women also learn about safe handling and storage of firearms, state and local permitting processes, how to purchase a handgun, what model and caliber is right for them, how to determine proper fit, holsters, apparel and that some handguns even come in colors designed to be more appealing to women.

On the surface, that looks like good news for the industry.

As a societal trend, it isn't necessarily a positive. It may, in fact, be the figurative proof more Americans are realizing the fact they're going to have to defend themselves - if they are defended at all.

Whether that says they've lost faith in their police departments (think New Orleans) or realize that difficult times call for tough solutions (think everywhere else), isn't in my crystal ball. Personally, I believe it points out the fact that more "average" people (those who don't already shoot) realize the police aren't able to be omnipresent enough to protect us.

That's not a "slam law enforcement" comment, although the New Orleans police department has done plenty to disgrace the profession, it's the simple realization crime is more widely scattered than police officers. So, people -especially women - are realizing the burden of protection needs to have a very personal component.

The fact they are participating in First Shots is, in fact, a positive for the shooting sports.

A survey of women from the classes indicates that 73 percent enrolled because learning about self-protection was a prime concern for them. And over 95 percent of those women indicated that they were "likely to continue to participate in handgun shooting."

As I've observed many times, not many people who go to a shooting range and participate are inclined to tell you they had a horrible time.

That's borne out in the response to First Shot programs. John Monson, of Bill's Gun Shop and Range in Minnesota, says "To date, we have held four First Shots programs in three months. We've had great response from the classes and have added over 100 new customers to our base."

Adding 100 new customers to their base is a big deal for retailers. Anytime they can add new shooters, there's the resultant first-time enthusiasm about shooting - and equipment. Some (like my wife) would say the enthusiasm never wanes.

As we're heading into the 2008 Shooting Industry Summit, I'm focused on steps any of us can take to bring more people into shooting. We don't need to sell fear of crime, but it is not irresponsible to stress the self-protection aspect of shooting. The right to self-protection was one of the founding principles upon which the Second Amendment was based.

But we're seeing external pressures take a toll on shooting. Economic, rather than political forces, are putting real pressures on all American families. Rising fuel prices are pinching travel habits for the first time since the gas shortages of the 1970s. Rising raw material costs - and the shipping associated with all commerce - are putting even more pressure on shooters. Even when you're not traveling far, you're paying more for the pleasure of shooting. As I've written recently, sporting clays are really feeling the pinch as rising costs are forcing some smaller clubs to consider closing as members simply can't afford the financial bite associated with higher costs for everything from fuel to ammunition.

Last Friday, we asked three questions of our readers in what was a decidedly un-scientific poll about rising costs. Hundreds of you responded, and it seems that our concerns were validated in your responses.

When we asked if higher prices were impacting your shooting, slightly more than half said it was impacting you "some"- but more than a quarter (27.17%) said it was impacting you "quite a lot" - together, that means more than three-quarters (77.53%) of us are feeling the bite.

How you were handling the impact should cause all of us heartburn. Nearly fifty percent of respondents said they were shooting less; 7.61 percent said you were "not shooting at all". Not good news when more than fifty-seven percent of shooters are being impacted - negatively by rising costs.

The numbers of shooters - based on our general responses on The Shooting Wire broke out about the way we'd expected. More than a quarter of you were primarily rifle shooters, the majority (59.42%) were pistol shooters, and slightly under eleven percent (10.87%) say they're primarily shotgun shooters. That's about the way competition numbers break out as well, so we think that's a fair representation of the shooting world.

We are looking anxiously at the upcoming Summit as the industry's chance to come together and take some actions to help assure all of us that we'll not only have the right to shoot (it is a critical election year and we do face real challenges to our right to own and use firearms), but we can afford to continue shooting.

Personally, I've ordered more .22 caliber conversion kits for my semiauto handguns, and I'm cutting back on shooting larger calibers. Those seem to be steps that many of your are taking. For the first time, I'm also looking at reloading as a viable option, but the barriers to entry there are pretty significant, too. If you're pinching pennies, spending money on anything that doesn't directly contribute to shooting can be difficult to rationalize. I've tried to explain to my wife that it's the equivalent of buying another freezer to bulk buy meat and preserve vegetables - so far, she's not buying into that theory. . . .