You march for this, I march for that,…Women have become more divided over the past few years, but shouldn't we all be on the same team? The team that fights for women's rights.  But doesn’t that mean ALL rights.  I think with all this division happening now, we need to talk about what a feminist is:

Definition of feminism 

1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

2: organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests

So after reading this definition, how has feminism changed to be that you are only a feminist if you vote a certain way. What has changed? Being a conservative woman does not make me any less of a feminist than someone who has more liberal views. You can be a Republican and be a feminist too. 

I believe women should be treated equally to men, my opinion should be equal to men and we should be paid equally for the same positions as men.  If you define yourself as a feminist, how can you not be open to a women fighting for women?  Even though you might not share with my interests or point of view, isn’t the fact that I am doing something to empower women feminism? The beauty of living in the United States is that we do not all have to have the same views; it’s ok to think differently.

We need to stop pitting us against each other and respect that whatever party you vote for, if you are fighting for women's rights, no matter what the cause we should be supporting one another. We must start respecting each other. Why are your beliefs more important than mine? 

I am conservative.  I can also be a feminist.  I can be a leader in my community and make a difference. I encourage any woman to stand up and for what you believe in even if I don't agree. I am no less of a woman because I am conservative, so stop saying that. If you believe I am less of woman because I am a conservative, how can you really call yourself a feminist?

Finding the best forearm to suit your needs is an important purchase.  I remember heading to the store to purchase my first gun specifically to carry daily.  What size? What caliber?  What kind of holster will I use? Where will I carry?  Do I want an external safety? What weight do I want?  There are so many variables to consider when making this purchase.  I luckily went shopping with my husband, who is VERY knowledgeable about firearms.  I also went to a gun store where they took their time to sell me the perfect fit for me.  If you have the chance to go to a gun range where you can also try out some firearms to see what your personal preferences are that is ideal. (Try before you buy) You want to make sure the size is appropriate for you, and where you will be carrying on your person and is comfortable enough to carry all day. I have listed below my top 5 favorite firearms to carry. These are all firearms I have chosen to carry and fire regularly.  If you have one to add, Please share in the comments for people to view your favorite carry option. 

1. Ruger LC9

This is very popular carry choice for women, and one of my favorite guns to carry and shoot.  It is very low profile and slim, lightweight and very compact. It has rounded edges so it makes it comfortable to carry and it will not snag on your clothing.  The slide is smooth and easy to rack and has a very smooth trigger pull.  For women with petite hands this firearm is a very slim and has a comfortable grip.

2. Ruger LCR

This was my first carry purchase.  When I went to purchase, I never thought I would choose a revolver.  But this firearm is very light due to its polymer-frame (weighs only 13.5 oz) and very comfortable in your hand. This hammerless revolver is easy to load and the recoil is very manageable and it is easy to control. This firearm comes in .38 spl+P, .357 Mag and 9mm which are ideal calibers for this revolver. This is a definite CARRY GIRL FAV!

3. Sig Sauer P938

Sig Sauer firearms are very reliable and this weapon is a 1911 styled firearm, solid and very easy to conceal due to its smaller size. It is available in 9mm, .40 SW and .45 ACP and has cool features you can add like, cool color options and extendable magazines. This firearm is easy on the hand and has a very manageable recoil.

4. Smith & Wesson M&P Shield

This is a super reliable every day carry choice.  This is another striker-fired weapon offered in multiple calibers — 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP. This firearm does have larger frame and is a little heavier coming in at around 20 ounces but feels very sturdy in your hands.  It is however slim and small enough to make it very easy to conceal.

5. Kimber Micro 9

This firearm has a very smooth design and round edges making it easy and comfortable to carry.  It is also lightweight at 15.6 ounces, has a very smooth trigger pull and a very mild recoil.  This is also one of my favorite firearms to shoot at the range.  This is a little more pricey firearm but worth it for the quality and performance of Kimber firearms.

 So at the end of the day we all will have a personal preference on what kind of conceal carry firearm we choose to carry.  But please make sure to take the time and effort to research, try the firearm if you can and think about what important factors are vital to you before you shop for your carry firearm.  As women we wear different types of clothing and outfits every day, so if you don’t have multiple carry firearms to work around what you bare wearing, make sure when shopping you think about how you will conceal with how you dress daily.  Let me and other readers of this blog know what your favorite EDC weapons are and why in the comments.  Good luck and remember once you get your conceal carry weapon it so important to continue to practice and train regularly.

Did you know one property crime happens every 4 seconds and one burglary occurs every 20 seconds.  Are you really prepared for a home invasion? 38% of assaults and 60% of rapes occur during a home invasion.  Are you prepared to defend yourself when there is no time to even call 911?

Whether you live alone, with your family, in the city or country, you should start with a plan.  During a home invasion you will be under stress and panic so being ready and prepared is a necessity. 

Here are some tips to creating a successful emergency plan. 

1. Research your local self-defense laws in your state and make sure all conceal/carry weapons permits are up to date.  Make sure to get firearm insurance if possible. (example: NRA Carry Guard)
2. Your family should all have training to use your firearms.  The first time you are firing your weapon should NOT be during a home invasion.
3. Make sure to have a specific place in your home that your family will go in the case of an intrusion into your home. Make sure to have a phone, flashlight and a readily available firearm.
4. Make sure to practice this plan with your family and make sure everyone in your family unit is aware and comfortable with this plan.  Also-  Have a plan B! 
5. At the first sign of a home invasion, do your best to immediately call 911 or your local police for help. Keep all your emergency numbers near the phone in your designated meeting place.
6. Because most home invasions happen at night, keep your cell phone and car keys close by you. During a home invasion you can set off your car alarm, this may detour the invaders.
7. Make sure your home exterior is well lit, motion detectors and alarms systems can be great safeguards.
8. Make sure all windows and doors are locked. 
9. Make sure your firearm is locked and loaded. Proper firearm safety and storage in your home is top priority.  It is helpful to have multiple storage locations and make sure they are readily accessible.
10. All of your firearms should be well maintained, clean and continue to practice with all of your firearms.

Depending on where you live and the layout of your home, not all home defense plans will be the same. In preparing your family you can also contact local police or your security company to help you and your family prepare.  Being prepared doesn’t make your paranoid or afraid.  I am ready to stand in defense of what matters most in my home, are you?

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There are many reasons women decide to take the steps needed to find a way to empower themselves to protect themselves.  Some may decide to carry a firearm and some maybe a Taser, pepper spray or take a self-defense class.  Everyone's story is different.  Here’s mine…

As a kid, I was never involved in politics or had firearms introduced to me, not really.  I remember my dad having a rifle that leaned against the wall by our front door.  We knew as kids not to touch it, but there was no fear seeing it there in my home every day, It was just part of the house. I grew up in a very small town in Maine so I had family members who hunted and who shot for fun at my grandpa's farm. Also my grandfather and uncle were both US Marine veterans. But we never really discussed their service or firearms. I led a pretty sheltered life. I knew that I had mostly conservative views growing up but I was brought up in household that had very little affiliations with any political party so my decision to become a conservative women came from the good old fashioned values that my father instilled in me.

Like most kids I went away to college after high school, excited and naïve. My college campus was large and I lived in the freshman dorm, the furthest walk from the main buildings where classes were held.  They had a bus system, but one of my classes was late, and buses stopped running so most nights I had to walk back.  It was about a 40 minute walk back to my dorm, which most nights I walked alone. Honestly I did it most nights without any fear.  I remember when I went away to school my father gave me a small can of pocket mace, that my resident adviser in my first week of school took from me and replaced with a red whistle. A red whistle! I walked around campus for a week with that red whistle, and deep down I knew that this whistle would never protect me. And it didn’t! I was attacked and raped a week later by a man in a dark corner outside my dorm building. I never thought once during the attack, where is my whistle? That man took something from me that night but also instilled in me the determination to never be a victim again. NEVER. If I was allowed to carry on my campus and knew the importance of carrying a firearm back then, I could have changed the outcome of the horrible night for me. I could have saved myself. I SURVIVED and will NEVER be a victim again.

After leaving the hospital I never went back to that college campus.  I was angry, scared and defeated.  I thought I could never get my strength back and I would always be afraid. I'll be honest it took me a long time to not feel that way.  I stayed afraid for a long time, too long.  Finding firearm training and empowering myself to be able to protect myself gave me strength again.  I knew if I trained, stayed vigilant and carried I would always be able to defend myself and my family from evil.  Now everyone is different, this is just my story.

Firearms ownership among females is on the rise. More women are enrolling in firearms safety courses, marksmanship courses, dynamic training classes and more women are hunting. The anti-constitution crowd downplays this trend and even makes claims that it is propaganda being circulated by the NRA or other gun related groups with a vested interest in boosting sales and/or tapping in to previously untapped markets. While I disagree with that assessment, gun sales and anecdotal evidence of increased participation in classes is interesting, but not exactly compelling. I have been scouring the internet looking for studies that analyze gun ownership among women, statistics on guns actually purchased by women, etc, but there is very little of it out there that I could find before publishing this.

The Crime Prevention Research Center has conducted a study on the trends of concealed handgun permits and this is a better measure of the increase in interest in guns among women. Even so, as of 2016, only fourteen states actually break down this data by gender. In 2016, women accounted for 36% of the permit holders in those states. Between 2012 and 2016, only eight states provided data by gender and in that time, they saw a 326% faster increase in permits among women as opposed to men. This is part of an overall increase in the number of CHL permits nationwide. That begs the question, why is there such an increase, especially among women?

According to a Pew research study, 67% of gun owners cite protection as the reason for owning a gun. When you break that down along gender lines, 71% of women cite that as the reason. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center states that one of every five women will be raped at some point in their lives. That's 20% of the entire female population. That is a stunning statistic. The report from the CDC commissioned by Barack Obama stated:

"Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was ‘used’ by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies"

In other words, either pulling the weapon in a self-defense scenario or actually firing it to stop an attack saves lives. The fact that the left doesn't like to admit this or acknowledge something this blatantly obvious is mind blowing.

Something else that is obvious is that owning a gun is not a magic bullet - pardon the pun. Owning a gun will not automatically make you safer, but that does not mean that the anti-gun lobby's opposite position that owning a gun automatically makes you less safe is therefore true. Gun owners have a responsibility to handle and store their firearms safely; but they also have responsibility get training in the defensive use of them, whether they choose to carry them or only have them in the home. Either way, if you do not get that training, there is the very real possibility that in a life-threatening situation, an attacker could take it away and use it against you. We talk about empowering women to be able to protect themselves and their loved ones, but it's not just the tool that provides that empowerment, but the training that goes with it to be able to use said tool effectively. Our focus in this space is on women, but this true for anyone.

The Carry Girl

Alis Volat Propriis

One of the most important responsibilities a man has is to protect his family. In most cases, a man cannot be there 100% of the time to fulfill that responsibility. Despite what the media tells us, the threats we face are real. One way to mitigate these threats is through the defensive use of a firearm. The left likes to focus on the tragedies of mass shootings because that fits the gun control agenda that they are pushing. They never focus on the stories that show us how firearms in the hands of good people save lives. 

A woman in Georgia used her handgun to defend herself and her children against an intruder while her husband was not at home. Another woman in Oklahoma shot and killed an intruder less than a week after her husband passed away while her three month old son was in the other room. In Arizona a woman shot and killed a man who tried to force his way in to her home in an attempt to rob her or worse. These types of incidents happen far too often and if a woman's husband, father, boyfriend or girlfriend for that matter is not around to help neutralize the threat, you need a way to level the field. No matter how much you work out, no matter how proficient you are in martial arts or other fighting techniques, there is someone out there who wants to do you harm who is bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled. The best equalizer is a firearm. 

Owning a firearm and being able to use it to defend one's life or the lives of loved ones are not the same thing. The carry girl movement isn't just about cool gear and cool guns. It's about empowerment. It's about having the confidence and knowledge that if there is a threat to your safety, you can effectively deal with that threat. I said earlier that protecting your family is an important responsibility. Buying a firearm and putting it in your Carry Girl's hand is only the beginning. You need to train with it to get proficient at marksmanship as well as being able to effectively use it under stress/duress. If you're qualified to train then you have a responsibility to do so. If you're not, it's your responsibility to make sure your carry girl gets that training. That said, even if you are qualified, it's probably still a good idea to have someone else do it. You both will be glad you did!

If you follow us on social media, then you are probably already familiar with my story and why I carry and why I started this movement. But, aside from my personal story, why is Second Amendment itself important?

The ideas that went in to the inclusion of the Second Amendment in to our constitution are very deep and profound. I'm not going to get in to that here because there are other blogs and articles that explain it better than I could; but I will explain why I believe it is important as a practical matter today.

Every person has a right to protect themselves in any way they see fit. I choose, as well as many other people, to use a firearm. The Second Amendment - the right to keep and bear arms - guarantees that I can use any tool at my disposal to protect myself and my family. No other country in the world has a constitution that guarantees this right.

This movement is rooted in the concept that people, women in particular need to be empowered to protect themselves. Not that it's the gun itself that is empowering, but the knowledge that your life is worth protecting by any means necessary. Knowing how to use one, training so that should the time come that you have to use one, you can do so with confidence and trust that you will win.

The left is pushing the notion that no one needs a firearm; that the government can protect you. We've seen all to often recently that relying on the government for anything other than disappointment is just silly. There are many people that live in rural areas where the nearest law enforcement officer may be 20-30 minutes away. Most life threatening situations are over in a fraction of that time. Should we just curl up in a ball and hope that the threat has mercy on us, or should we confront the threat and show it no mercy? That might sound harsh, but this movement is about empowering women to know that we can confront the threat and eliminate it if we have to. Without the guarantee of the Second Amendment, we're back to curling up in a ball. That is not the Carry Girl way.

Why Carry Girl

Before 2005 I was never involved in politics, maybe I was in this denial that if I didn’t get involved in any politics or watch the news it would somehow not affect me.  This was so naive of me.  I knew that I had mostly conservative views growing up but I was brought up in household that had very little affiliations with any political party so my decision to become a conservative women came from the good old fashioned values that my father instilled in me.  

I met and married my husband in 2005 and we moved to the great state of Texas in 2006. Best decision ever! My husband, a Veteran of the US Air Force and former police officer, is a strong supporter of 2A and a constitutional conservative.  I quickly became very aware of the importance of 2A, the constitution and also my love for shooting.  Shooting became a love of mine and I quickly acquired a strong respect for weapons and firearms safety.  I decided in 2015 to get my License to Carry.  I knew that in order to truly empower myself I needed to carry every day to protect myself and my family. 

At age 19, I was a survivor of an attack and sexual assault on my college campus.  I remember when I went away to school my father gave me a small can of pocket mace, that my resident advisor in my first week of school took from me and replaced with a red whistle. A red whistle! I walked around campus for a week with that red whistle, being afraid and knowing that this whistle would never protect me.  And it didn’t! I was attacked and raped a week later by a man in a dark corner outside my dorm building.  I never thought once during the attack, where is my whistle?  That man took something from me that night but also instilled in me the determination to never be a victim again. NEVER.  If I was allowed to carry on my campus and knew the importance of carrying a firearm back then, I could have changed the outcome of the horrible night for me.  I could have saved myself. 

As a woman I am so thankful that the Second Amendment affirms my natural right to protect myself in my home, in my car, at all times!  I believe it is so important to support women on college campuses, in our cities and small towns by educating them and creating a strong community around them to empower them to protect themselves by carrying a firearm if they so choose.  The Carry Girl movement is that community.