Increasingly women

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/11/43325480.shtml

Gun permit applicants increasingly are women

                
NINA LONG / STAFF  
Firearms instructor Buford Tune gives shooting tips to, from left, Lisa 
Binkley of Nashville, Billie McFarland of Lebanon and Laura Serrato of 
Lebanon. The women recently received permits to carry a handgun or were 
certified to get a permit.  


By JAY HAMBURG
Staff Writer

Even after working several years as a prison guard, Twanda McCurry never 
felt the need to carry a gun for protection outside of work, and especially 
not after she went into a new business as an office manager at a bottling 
plant.

Until about three weeks ago.

That's when she decided to join the fast-growing number of Tennessee women 
who have permits to carry handguns.

Since 2000, the percentage of gun-carry permits issued in the state to 
women has risen steadily from about 10% to almost 20% of those issued so 
far this year.

No one is exactly sure why. The reasons given vary from a growing interest 
in sports shooting among women to the belief that men — who are the 
majority of gun owners — rushed in to get gun-carry permits when they 
became more easily available in 1996, while women gradually gained 
interest.

To McCurry the reason was simply personal.

It was late in the afternoon about three weeks ago when McCurry and her 
sister pulled up to their townhouse apartment in Antioch. Three men rushed 
up, brandishing an assortment of weapons, including a handgun, a crowbar 
and a baseball bat.

Startled, the two women felt ambushed but managed to make it into their 
apartment unharmed. McCurry thinks it was only because the men realized 
they had made a mistake and backed off to find their intended targets.

Nonetheless, it left her feeling very vulnerable to violence.

''I never imagined I would have to purchase a gun to feel secure,'' said 
McCurry, 33. ''But life is too short to be afraid to leave my house or my 
car.''

After undergoing a background check, paying a $115 fee and taking a 
required training course, she got her gun-carry permit, making her one of 
more than 5,500 Tennessee women who have done so this year.

Permits are issued by the Department of Safety, which took over the process 
from county sheriffs in 1996. This created a more uniform set of standards 
for approving handgun permits and fostered a large increase in 
applications.

To get a permit to carry a handgun in Tennessee, you must be 21 and pass a 
criminal background check done by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. 
Permits are good for four years.

While the number of women getting permits may be slowly leveling off after 
rising for a couple of years, several women contacted said they had 
recommended getting handguns to their female friends.

Instructors and sellers urge potential handgun owners to get thorough 
training in the handling of a firearm and in how to make sure no children 
accidentally get their hands on weapons.

McCurry purchased handguns as early Christmas gifts for her two sisters and 
urged them to get the training needed to get a gun-carry permit.

The permit allows a person to carry a gun openly or in a concealed manner. 
There are restrictions on bringing guns into certain settings, including 
school property and places where alcohol is served.

Linda Compton got her permit about four years ago after there was an armed 
robbery at her family's grocery story, Compton's Foodland, on Smith Springs 
Road. ''I feel much more comfortable with it,'' said Compton, 60. '' I take 
it almost everywhere. Things have just gotten meaner out there.''

Compton said she even recommended the idea to her 82-year-old mother, who 
eventually decided against it.

Middle Tennessee gun sellers and gun safety instructors say they have 
noticed more women becoming interested in acquiring guns during the past 
two to three years. No one seems to know exactly why because violent crime 
generally is down in Nashville.

''It's hard to know what it's connected to,'' said Buford Tune, a former 
Metro police officer who runs the Academy of Personal Protection and 
Security. ''We're getting a lot of women who realized that they can't 
depend on anybody to protect them.''

The increase in his female trainees in the past couple of years includes 
those who may have to work late at night, those whose husbands or 
boyfriends may often be out of town, and those interested in becoming 
security officers, said Tune, who has run a weapons and personal safety 
school for 10 years.

''We used to see about two out of 20 in a class were women. Now we're 
starting to see about one-half of the class being women.''

Gun sellers see a rise in women buying guns, as well. Female customers have 
increased by 25% to 30% in the past five years, said John Arnold, owner of 
Specialty Arms II in La Vergne.

A similar rise has been noted at Law Enforcement Equipment in Nashville. 
''Something has happened in their life that they perceive as a threat, and 
they feel safer with this,'' said owner Tommy St. Charles. ''It gives them 
peace of mind.''

Those who study the demographics of gun ownership think that the number of 
gun-carry permits is not likely to increase dramatically in the near 
future. Most states that offer similar permits have found that the number 
of approved permits eventually settles at a level equal to 2% to 5% of the 
population, said John Harris, head of the Tennessee Firearms Association, 
which promotes safe use of guns and lobbies legislators.

''After 9/11, there was a spike and you'll continue to see spikes'' with 
reports of local violent crimes, said Harris, who is legal adviser to the 
National Rifle Association in Tennessee.

There are 137,608 valid handgun permits in Tennessee, which is about 2.5% 
of the population.

Lisa Binkley, who lives in Good- lettsville, is glad she is among that 
2.5%.

Binkley, 39, works as a security guard, but when she applied for a permit, 
she wanted to carry a gun for her own protection. ''If I'm out with my 
family or if I'm by myself, I want to be safe.''

To carry a handgun

The Tennessee Department of Safety issues permits to carry handguns. 
Qualified applicants must be 21, have a clean criminal record and attend a 
short course in handling their firearms given by a state-certified school.

Consumers are urged to ask detailed questions about the background and 
experience of their instructors before choosing a class.

These Web sites offer more information on handguns, laws and safety issues:

Tennessee Department of Safety: www.tennessee.gov/safety/index.html

Tennessee Firearms Association: www.tennesseefirearms.com

KidsHealth for Parents: www.kidshealth.org 

-- 
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