Last Saturday afternoon, almost 40 women packed their guns, prepared their ammo and headed to the gun range for the first meeting of the Well Armed Woman Chisholm Trail Chapter in Duncan, Oklahoma.

Taryn Stewart, NRA certified pistol instructor and co-owner of a Firearms Solutions gun shop and shooting, serves as chapter leader in the rural community of Duncan, which is only one of five in Oklahoma. She said she wanted to start the chapter after seeing more women at the shop take an interest in firearms.

“I have talked about starting a women’s only group for quite some time now, and this just felt like the right time,” Stewart said. “With stories I am reading on Facebook and seeing on the news, women need to be educated, empowered and equipped on how to use firearms for personal protection.”

Stewart’s feelings echo recent trends with more women’s-only shooting clubs emerging and firearms manufacturers aiming more products and services at female gun owners. 

A 2015 report from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade organization for the firearms industry, said more than 48 percent of the female gun owners they surveyed said they kept a gun for protection and home defense. 

In Duncan, the women with their varied levels of gun experience, lined up in groups of eight to fire at targets. 

“I liked how she (Stewart) treats everyone as equals,” said Jada Valentine, who shoots with a 9mm semiautomatic. “I’ve shot for years and have been around guns since the third grade. I like meting other women that like the same thing.”

The Well Armed Woman’s Chapter program founder Carrie Lightfoot said their growing organization and female firearms instructor programs exist to assist and prepare women who want to be able to protect themselves and their families.

“We have grown to 235 chapters in all 50 states and have trained more than 250 female firearms instructors in under three years,” Lightfoot said.

Betancourt writes for The Duncan (Okla.) Banner