While more women are joining the ranks of gun owners for reasons ranging from protection to empowerment, Ohio University’s Second Amendment Club has only one active female member.
Jennifer Rogers, a senior studying integrated social studies education, initially was strongly against guns. But she agreed to go shooting with an ex-boyfriend and found it empowering.
After transferring to Ohio University two years ago, Rogers discovered OU’s Second Amendment Club and became the only active female member, though there have been others in the past.
“After I got involved in the Second Amendment Club, I started seeing how shooting guns could bring people together and it could be really fun if done properly,” Rogers said. “It gives you this sense of great responsibility that I think a lot of college students don’t really have.”
The club’s mission is to protect the spirit of the Second Amendment while promoting responsible firearm use and ownership.
“We try to make people more educated about firearm safety,” said Thomas Stierhoff, the club’s president and a junior studying engineering technology and management.
Jamie Mathes, a 2011 graduate now taking pre-physical therapy classes, was an active member of the club before classes prevented her from regularly attending meetings. Despite hesitation from her mother, Mathes went to a meeting with her then-boyfriend and ended up sticking around.
Female shooters almost always start with a male shooter, perhaps a significant other as both Rogers and Mathes did, said Rhonda Imlay, an employee at Briar Rabbit Shooting Sports in Zanesville.
“I’ve been a member here for close to five years, and I’ve seen an increase in the number of women shooters,” Imlay said.
Mathes said she became more open to guns because of personal safety but also because of the personal-freedom aspect.
The media, Rogers added, portray firearms in a negative light, creating a societal aversion to them.
“I actually have been called a few names,” she said. “I think the ignorance that surrounds guns is because the media portrays them so negatively. People don’t want anything to do with something that is portrayed so negatively.”
Rogers, who was assaulted during her first year at Ohio University, used shooting and learning gun safety as a part of her healing process. She trained to become a certified pistol instructor and bought her first firearm afterward to celebrate — a 9 mm, high-power handgun.
“We as women need to create a stronger field in this area,” Rogers said. “We need to try to bring more women into it to help dispel those stereotypes that women can’t shoot guns.”
Female participation in target shooting grew by 46.5 percent from 2001 to 2010, according to research from the National Sporting Good’s Association.
“Women should never be discouraged to do anything that a man can, and with gun rights, it’s the same thing,” Rogers said. “Women are just as capable to own or operate a firearm as men are.”
gm220908@ohiou.edu
