Did you know that today is National Take a Woman to the Shooting Range Day? You were probably unaware of this fact, because I just made it up.

In fact, I think every day is a great day to take a woman shooting. It’s a lot of fun for everyone involved, it builds what could be an important skill, and it demystifies firearms.

Women make great shooters. This is because they approach firearms without a hint of attitude. They don’t have anything to prove and they are great listeners. One of my favorite things is seeing a new female shooter that I have just helped learn to shoot proceed to outshoot guys who have been shooting for a long time â guys that really aren’t very good, but think they are God’s gift to the shooting world. In fact, some new female shooters are so good at bullseye shooting that it’s almost scary.

I recently took a childhood friend shooting, and after less than an hour, she was keeping all of her shots (with a .22 caliber 1911) within the A zone on an IPSC target at 25 yards. In my opinion, that’s great shooting. Sure, I can do better, mainly because I’m God’s gift to the shooting world â just kidding. It’s worth noting that some of the targets in this article were shot by me with a Kahr CW40, and she was able to shoot a 9 mm Glock 19 with greater precision in slow fire shooting than I was able to shoot the .40 S&W.

I highly recommend starting any new shooter off with dry firing, then .22s, then, if they are comfortable, centerfire weapons. Avoid anything with stout recoil – it’s not very enjoyable and it won’t instill good shooting habits. If they seem truly interested in shooting something small and powerful, it’s best to have them start with a weapon that has only one round inside, in case they have difficulty controlling it after firing the first shot.

If you have a chance to take someone (male or female) who has little or no experience with firearms to the range, and can provide them with a safe and respectful education on shooting, you should jump at it. We can all be ambassadors for the shooting world if we play our cards right.