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. 

Where are all the shirts and hats for women?  This is a question I asked myself constantly when visiting the multiple gun shows and trade-shows over past few years. After attending the NRA Annual Meetings in  Dallas earlier this year and seeing the lack of cool and creative women’s apparel and accessories I knew I needed to change that. I decided to combine my love for country, 2nd amendment and my love of shooting into an apparel line that supported those interests. There is such a large market of men's apparel available, it’s time for an apparel line dedicated to the girls. My husband who is a proud Air Force Veteran and constitutional conservative agreed that there should be more choices for women.  We knew we wanted a platform dedicated to promoting, educating and supporting women who shoot, carry and believe in the 2nd Amendment. So we created Carry Girl Gear.  

Not only do I want to design badass t-shirts and hats to wear on and off the range for Carry Girls, but I also wanted to start a very important movement.  A Movement for the woman who shoots.  A Movement for the woman who conceal carries.  A Movement for the conservative woman. A Movement for the women who believes in her natural right to protect herself and her family.  A Movement for the woman who loves her country. These women sometimes have a quieter voice. Now is the time for us to get loud and make some fricken noise! Join the Carry Girl Movement and show off your appreciation for this great country, our constitution and the liberty we enjoy that is affirmed by the 2nd Amendment; and look fabulous while doing it!

Women like us need to let our voices be heard.