Study: Gun ownership among women continues to soar

In the past decade, the number of women owning firearms and participating in target shooting and hunting has soared, according to a 2014 study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. In the past decade, the number of women owning firearms and participating in target shooting and hunting has soared, according to a 2014 study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close Study: Gun ownership among women continues to soar 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

Across the country, women in growing numbers are buying guns and learning to use them.

A recent report of the National Shooting Sports Foundation -- the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- found that the most important reason women gave for buying guns was for self defense (26 percent).

Close behind was home defense (22 percent), and about 15 percent of the 1,000 respondents said their reason for owning a gun was to learn to hunt.

The sample included women who gave interviews at shooting events across the country, focus groups with women who attended the organization's annual trade show and an online questionnaire.

The study was conducted in April 2014 among women ages 18 to 65.

Study participants reported owning an average of three guns, although 30 percent said they owned just one gun.

One-third of the respondents were new gun owner who obtained their first gun sometime in the prior three years, according to the study's executive summary.

Women who bought a gun in the year before the study said they spent an average of $870 (or median outlay of $700) on guns.

A woman's first gun purchase is not typically an impulse purchase, according to the study. Among the respondents, 67 percent said they considered the purchase for at least a few months.

As part of their consideration, 65 percent said they consulted with family members, while 52 percent talked to friends and gun shop personnel.

Two study findings point to the conclusion that women who own guns take their weapons seriously: Nearly 96 percent of study respondents said they had tried target shooting at some point, and it is the one gun-related activity that a majority (62 percent) continue to take part in with relatively frequency.

About a third (32 percent) said they target shoot once a month or more often.

The study was conducted by Chicago-based InfoManiacs.

In other findings reported by the National Sporting Goods Association, about 5.4 million reported participating in target shooting in 2013, a 24-percent increase from the 4.3 million who took part in 2004.

During the same decade, a similar increase was found among women who went hunting: 3.3 million in 2013, representing nearly a 25-percent increase from the 2.7 million in 2004, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.