Gun ownership on the rise as women seek to ‘protect ourselves the same way men have been doing for years’
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – Jessica McCoy wiped rain droplets off her safety goggles before sitting down at the firing line. She picked up the Daniel Defense AR-15 and spent a minute navigating the scope before finally pulling the trigger, releasing a burst of sound that reverberated across the rifle range.
“Did I even hit the target?” she asked instructor Jane Milhans, who replied, “We’ll go see later.”
McCoy had never fired a semiautomatic rifle before that drizzly morning at an all-female firearm training just outside Tacoma, Washington. But like many women, she has decided to get more comfortable using a gun for personal protection.