GENESEE COUNTY, MI - Nearly four years ago, Quin Shumpert said, 10 percent of his students were women. In less than five years the number of female students wanting to take his concealed pistol class has more than doubled.

"More and more women are coming in to take the class," said Shumpert, certified to teach CPL classes in Michigan. "They want their independence. They want to be able to protect themselves." Now, about 60 percent of the students are women, he said.

The trend of more women purchasing firearms is continuing to grow in Genesee County.

Brian Wright, marketing manager for Williams Gun Sight Inc. in Davison, said that is one reason they made changes to the 89-year-old Davison business, costing an estimated $3 million.

Williams is prepared to tackle the new gun owner with their renovations that were introduced to the public on Dec. 14. Wright said they are looking to do classes for the firearms newbie and in the future they will also hold classes specifically for women gun owners and customers.

"We are starting to see more and more women come in," Wright said. "We wanted the place to be nice enough so women can be comfortable here." The first week the renovations were revealed, Wright said, an estimated 40 women came in to use the indoor shooting range.

This influx of women buying and shooting guns is in keeping with what Genesee County Clerk John Gleason says he sees on the county level, when people are applying for concealed pistol licenses.

Gleason said he has noticed the number of women applying for the license has increased but he did not have exact numbers. Concealed Pistol License applications do have an area where people identify their sex.

"Right now there's a lot of husbands and wives, and boyfriends and girlfriends going to class," Gleason said. "Most of them are just people who enjoy the sport. They join clubs together to shoot. There are coed clubs, teams and leagues."

Gleason, who teaches a hunter safety class, said he plans to have his 19-year-old daughter take a concealed-weapon class. Under Michigan law she will not be able to get her CPL until she is 21.

"She hunts and has taken the hunters safety class," Gleason said. "She has killed deer and last year she killed a bear. I think it is natural for her to take the CPL class now."

Though there are a number of clubs and women's groups supporting the sport of gunning, Shumpert said the women who he teaches are mostly there for a different reason - to defend themselves.

"They are looking for independence," Shumpert said. "A lot of them are single women who want to be able to defend themselves if they have to. They see the things that are happening in this world and they want to make sure they can protect themselves." Shumpert said he averages between 15 to 20 students per week.

According to a 2014 study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, about 55.6 percent of the women surveyed said they intended to purchase a firearm within 12 months. More than one third of the women were new gun owners. The study focused on women ages 18 to 65 who already owned at least one gun.

The new gun owners were typically between the ages of 18 and 34.

The survey also said that most women owned semiautomatic pistols, which is what Wright said is a popular choice among most new gun purchases along with the AR-15 rifle.

Gina Wesseldyke, who works for a nonprofit organization supporting women and guns, says women are the largest growing group of gun customers.

"Right now (women) are 70 percent of the gun sales and only 30 percent are going to men," Wesseldyke said. "Women are the largest increasing firearms customer."

Wesseldyke, who serves as State Leader of Michigan for The Well Armed Women, said the organization went national three years ago and now they have more than 350 chapters nationwide with an estimated 6,000 members. They offer firearm training including classes, forums and products for women.

Members of the organization have diverse backgrounds and varying reasons for owning firearms, Wesseldyke said. She added that most of the women in The Well Armed Women were there to learn how to protect themselves.

"Crime in the United States has gone crazy," she said. "In years past in my generation when I first started out husbands took us everywhere we needed to go. There was a police officer on every corner to protect us. Things are not like that anymore. I think women are feeling a great need to protect themselves."

There are chapters throughout Michigan including in Holland, Battle Creek, Jackson, Saginaw, Detroit and Traverse City.

Women interviewed by the Flint Journal at Williams had a mixture of reason why they shot and carried guns, but most said they "enjoyed" the sport. They would not agree to be identified.