More women learning to shoot in Watsonville

Women are trading hair clips for magazines in Watsonville. But it’s not the magazine that you read, these have bullets in them.

On Thursday, a group of five women learned a thing or two about firing a handgun at Markley’s Indoor Range and Gun Shop in Watsonville, putting into practice what they learned in a self-defense class there put on by NorCal MedTac.

“Actually, I am afraid of guns,” said Kristina Torres, a Prunedale resident. “I came because I want to empower myself, I want to feel comfortable with guns.”

Torres does not own any guns, but is considering it now after what happened to her.

“Recently at my home, I had a man show up at my backyard with a rifle. And that really scared me,” she said.

Torres came to the range with friends. All the women who came to the class have their own reasons for learning to shoot. And more and more women are doing the same.

“They are the fasting growing that we’re experiencing on the training side definitely and just in the consumer side as well,” said Brannon Schell, the owner and instructor of NorCal MedTac.

Schell says that is according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which does studies on gun sales.

“I want to have a different feeling about guns and I want it to be something that I feel safe with and that it could protect me and it could protect my family and my girls,” said Torres.

The class is not just about guns and shooting, however. It is also about learning different ways to protect yourself, your home and teaching your family what to do if someone breaks into your home. Not every scenario requires a lethal weapon.

“So we need to give them no-shoot options in a scenario,” said Schell. “We need to give them other tools: pepper spray, taser, cameras, alarms, whatever, in order to solve problems.”

For Torres, it is all about understanding something she didn’t before.

“You know, if you’re someone like me, I think we need to open up our mind and find why people are drawn to guns for the safety of yourself… and so just to learn,” she said.

You can find more information about firearm instruction classes with NorCal MedTac by clicking here.