Ladies Range Day focused on firearm safety

She said being in the industry she has seen many other opportunities like this across Canada, but Prince Albert didn’t have anything specifically for women. When she first started handling firearms, she found it difficult as a woman.

“When I put the word out there asking women if they were interested in doing something like this in our community I had so much interest,” Markling explained. “That led me to planning my own range day. It’s the first time I’ve done anything like it but I’m just going to go full board and keep trying to educate people about the importance of safety and having fun at the same time.”

The turnout wasn’t as big as she had hoped for but wanted it to be the starting footsteps towards reaching out to more women in the community.

The five-hour day included a morning session where participants learned the basics of firearm safety including what would be required in the Canadian Firearm Safety Course. It’s what’s needed to get the Possession and Acquisition License.

“It’s all about safety this morning, it’s all about learning the different types of firearms that are out there and the actions,” she said. The women learned how to handle the guns and prove they can be safe.

In the afternoon, they went over firing range etiquette before putting their skills to the test.

“We’re going to have a blast shooting all afternoon,” Markling said.

The ladies had the opportunity to shoot different types of weapons such as handguns and various rifles.

“A lot of the tragedies we see surrounding firearms are because of the lack of knowledge and the lack of access to education,” she said.

Shelly Belisle was helping out at ladies’ day. She told paNOW the main lesson was to make sure the attendees feel comfortable and safe when they encounter a firearm.

“When we’re done our day hopefully these women will carry on that and go into their hunter safety course or their firearm safety course as well,” Bellisle explained.

The one thing she hoped the women walk away with is having no reason to fear firearms.

“Once you have your confidence in your ability and you know how to make a weapon safe the future starts there,” Bellisle explained.

She said as the day went on, she was impressed with how far the women had come along.

“When they came in, they were like almost scared to touch them and now we’re hands on, which is great because before they can feel confident in firing it, they need to be comfortable in handling it,” she added.

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12

by Ian Gustafson

Ladies Range Day focused on firearm safety

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