Gun sales, new shooters, carry requests increase

Following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gun sales at Targetmaster went up 50 percent, according to manager Bob Bonnett. Now, he said, after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, sales at his shop on Route 202 in Concord Township are spiking again.

He said the actual figure is hard to gauge, but he estimates gun sales and range use are up 25 to 30 percent.

“More people want piece of mind. If something were to happen here, they want a chance to get away or stop a threat,” he said.

Most firearms being sold are the smaller, concealable, 9 mm semiautomatic weapons used for personal and home defense.

Not only are sales up, but more people are using the indoor range. And with an increase in new shooters, requests for safety classes offered at Targetmaster have increased about 30 percent, he said.

A woman shooter loads a magazine before taking aim.
A woman shooter loads a magazine before taking aim.

Many of those new shooters are women. Bonnett said more women are coming in to shoot, not only with husbands and boyfriends, but also by themselves or with groups of other women. He said he’s seen an increase in the number of women recruiting other women to learn how to shoot.

At 10:30 on a rainy Thursday morning, there were a half dozen women on the range practicing their skills. Among them were sisters-in-law Becca and Maria Kilmon of Wilmington.

This was Becca Kilmon’s first time shooting. She said she was initially apprehensive because she didn’t know how strong the recoil would be or how well she could handle the 9 mm Glock semi-automatic pistol she would be shooting.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought,” the petite 21-year-old said. “I was nervous, but I liked it. I’ll do it again.”

Maria Kilmon said she’s been shooting ever since she was a 7-year-old growing up in Minnesota. She said her father instilled in her a sense of discipline and taught her gun safety.

While she doesn’t currently carry a weapon, Maria Kilmon said she is taking classes for a Delaware carry permit. She said she wants the option to carry for her own personal safety and that of her family.

She says women who think firing a weapon is inappropriate really don’t know what they’re talking about.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” she said. “It’s empowering to know how to calmly and safely use a gun. It’s not just a man’s sport.”

Chester County Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh said women now make up more than half of the applicants for new concealed carry permits.

Many of them are women whose husbands have permits and want their wives to have a permit also, Welsh said.

And the number of permit requests has jumped dramatically.

“Normally we get about 100 requests per week. After Paris, that went to 200 per week. Last week, we were getting more than 100 requests per day,” Welsh said. “The last time we saw anything like this was in the weeks after Sandy Hook.”

Welsh added that she’s had to authorize some overtime so her department can handle all the requests and said the department will resume offering gun safety classes for women beginning in 2016.

While the current rise in gun sales can be traced to recent terror incidents — FBI figures show there were a record 185,000 background checks performed for gun purchases on Black Friday, Nov. 27 — the increase in women shooters and applications for concealed carry permits has been going on for a more than a decade.

According to a Syracuse.com story from February, 42 percent of women shooters have concealed carry permits.

A New York Times story from February 2013 said the number of women participating in shooting sports rose 51.5 percent from 2001 to 2011. That report said women find a sense of independence and personal power in learning how to shoot.

In 2012, CBS reported that 23 percent of women are gun owners, up 13 percent from 2005. The report estimated 15 million to 20 million women own firearms and, in New York the number of women seeking gun permits had doubled.

Even martial artists who are skilled with empty hand fighting are beginning to look at incorporating firearms for their personal defense.

Gregory Pritchett Jr., a martial arts instructor from Newark, teaches self-defense to security personnel.

While waiting to sign in for range time at Targetmaster he said, “No matter how many disarming techniques you know, being able to shoot adds another level of self-defense.”

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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