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SIERRA VISTA — While holding the gun, Debbie Albright closed her eyes and turned her face away when she first tried to learn how to shoot from her husband about three years ago.
“I held it like a burning mouse,” she said. “It was loud and scary. I had blisters on my shoulders and I didn’t like it.”
But soon after she decided to give shooting another shot. This time she left her husband at home and attended a women-only class, the Annie Oakley Sure Shots firearms safety class at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix.
She began attending the classes weekly and eventually became a safety coach and trainer for the group. She loved the time she spent at the range and the friendships she formed there.
 Sandy James, of Fort Huachuca, performs an exercise to determine her dominant eye during Saturday’s all-women shooting class at the Sierra Vista Shooting Range. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
“It took away the fear. I absolutely loved it,” she said.
When she moved to Bisbee in March, Albright, a certified National Rifle Association instructor, vowed to start her own Annie Oakley “posse” in Southern Arizona.
Her idea for a free, ladies-only firearm safety class was well received by the members of the Sierra Vista Range Coalition, but they were uncertain if the class would find much interest from women in the area, she said.
The response from local women has been better than they expected, and Albright succeed in creating a class that is conducive to learning, said Bruce Judson, president of the Sierra Vista Rod and Gun Club.
“It’s absolutely something the community needed because immediately after starting it she was swamped with calls,” said Jim Strait, a range master and trainer with the Cochise Gun Club.
During her first two classes, 33 women were taught gun safety with the help of Annie Oakley members from Phoenix. She recruited some of the experienced shooters from the classes to help her instruct future classes and is gradually building a local team of women instructors, now dubbed the Shooting Stars of Cochise County.
And women don’t even need to bring a gun to participate.
At the range
“Hot range,” “cold range” and “cartridge chambers” can be foreign terms to a new shooter, but Albright wanted to be sure to explain it all at her third firearm safety class at the Sierra Vista Shooting Range on Saturday.
“I try to teach the fundamentals,” she said.
Albright and Jennifer Tipton, a safety instructor for the Annie Oakley Sure Shots, taught six new shooters and seven experienced shooters to stay alert and sober at all times.
“You and your gun will never be loaded at the same time,” Albright said.
She also told the women not to take it personally when she yells commands on the range.
“Pay attention to everything that’s said. I yell out of love,” Albright said.
Safety procedures, the parts of the gun and how to hold a gun were covered in the one-hour class.
How to aim also received special instructions.
“We call it ‘pumpkin-on-a-post,’ ” Tipton said, referring to the gun’s scopes.
Afterward, the class and safety coaches and a few range masters, including Judson and Strait, headed to the shooting ranges to practice with .22-caliber pistols and rifles.
“It’s a step up from a BB gun. I call it a pea-shooter,” Albright said.
When all the participants had glasses and earplugs in place and the safety instructors reviewed the guns’ parts, the class practiced firing at paper plates.
When Audie Yospur, one of the new instructors, noticed Agnes Gromek was hitting just below her target, she had her try aiming her scope just above the target and Gromek started hitting the bull’s-eye.
“It was fun and nice to see the progress,” said Gromek, a first-time shooter. “They gave very clear instructions that really helped.”
Demystifying guns
Women, ages 18 to 80 who are from across Southern Arizona, including Tucson and Nogales, have attended the free classes, which have been held every third Saturday of the month since June, Albright said.
“It sure beats cleaning the house,” said Helen Affsa, a Bisbee resident.
On Saturday, Affsa was attending her second class. Learning to shoot was a desire she had since childhood, when she was more likely to be found with a Roy Rogers hat, toy gun and boots than a doll.
She convinced a few of her friends and family to try the class as well on Saturday, including Carmen Gans.
Gans said she didn’t think she’d ever hold a gun and wasn’t comfortable with the thought of using a gun. She initially didn’t want to attend the class and feared learning how to shoot would be too complicated.
But learning turned out to be much easier than Gans expected and target practice felt good.
“I’m gonna come back, definitely,” she said.
Learning to shoot is something challenging and mechanical that a lot of women aren’t used to, Affsa said.
“It takes women out of their normal situation,” she said. “It’s empowering, it builds self-esteem and it demystifies guns.”
Amanda Morris, one of the safety instructors, had another reason for shooting.
“It’s a stress reliever actually,” she said.
Learning from other women has advantages, too, Affsa said.
“It’s more appealing for women who are scared it’s better to be in the comfort of our own gender learning something new.”
Steve Manigault, a shooting instructor whose wife and daughter were line coaches for the class, said Albright was a more patient teacher to the women than a husband or boyfriend might be. And though women aren’t usually seen at shooting ranges as often as men are, they often seem to be better learners on the shooting range, he said.
“Men can’t seem to admit when they don’t know something,” he said, which leads to bad shooting habits.
“Female shooters will say ‘OK, thank you,’ and they’ll learn from it and remember it,” he said.
Women have another advantage at the shooting range — better eye to finger coordination.
“My daughter has beaten me twice in competitions and I’m proud of her for that,” Manigault said.
Albright said she still enjoys the camaraderie with other women from teaching the classes and plans to teach other courses at the range, including self-defense, in the future. For now she plans to focus on the safety classes.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Laura Ory can be reached at 515-4683.
John Norris wrote on Sep 15, 2007 11:13 PM: