Sherry Dmitruchina surprised herself Sunday — years after she last picked up a gun, she hit the bull's-eye all 20 times from five yards away during target practice at a Taylor firearms range.

"I sure did. Twenty shots, all in the same hole," she said, holding up her hot-pink target at Top Gun Shooting Sports to applause. "I'm going to show my husband."

Dmitruchina of Trenton was one of hundreds of women who turned out for a day of lessons on gun safety and personal protection put on by Legally Armed in Detroit, a gun rights advocacy group.

Rick Ector, a firearms trainer and founder of Legally Armed, said 700 women registered for the sixth annual event, and he was hoping to get at least 600 through the doors, but Sunday's rainy weather may have held down participation.

Ector said he launched the yearly free training to help women because they are "easier targets" for predators. Sessions included classroom instruction and time in the shooting range, with one-on-one instruction with a firearms teacher.

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Participants used 9mm pistols.

"We teach women how to shoot and discharge a firearm, and a personal protection strategy," Ector said. He said attendances has risen steadily, from 50 his first year to 400 last year to about 600 on Sunday.

"This is an event to see if owning a gun for personal protection is right for you," he said. "If it's not right for you, find some other means of protecting yourself."

Ector said several of his graduates have had to pull out their guns to scare away a would-be attacker, and a couple of women actually had to use their firearm to defend themselves.

"The world is getting so bad I have to defend myself," said Jackie Plascencia of Dearborn Heights as she waited to get into Top Gun Shooting Sports, a gun retailer with a 30-lane shooting range.

"It's rough out there," added Charlene Ybarra of Lincoln Park.

Top Gun was packed with women of all ages on Sunday, including 12-year-old Kassidy Johnson, who was waiting in line with her mother, Rachael Johnson of Westland, for some time in the shooting range.

They'd just spent an hour in the classroom with a firearms instructor who taught them how to hold a pistol correctly, the proper stance, and other safety measures.

Kassidy said she has experience with a BB gun, but was scared and nervous to use a pistol. And, she heard the spent casings could be hot.

Claudia Gutierrez of Belleville said Sunday was the first time she's used a gun.

"It was stunning actually," she said. "You have to have the right stance."

And, as she found out, there's also a correct way of holding the pistol. She held hers the wrong way, and it nicked her thumb.

She said her husband encouraged her to attend Sunday's lessons, and she agreed because "this is a crazy world."

She recounted seeing a man at a Meijer store carrying a pistol and wearing a T-shirt that, she said, implied he planned to shoot something.

"I live in a safe area, but you just never know," she said. "I've always felt it's people who kill, not the guns."

Dan Korzeniewski of St. Clair Shores, one of the volunteer shooting instructors, said he likes seeing women "learn a skill set that could potentially protect them and keep their families safe."

Contact Jennifer Dixon: 313-223-4410 or jbdixon@freepress.com