More US women are buying guns and trained at Fortune Firearms

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A licensed firearms instructor and dealer, Brandi Joseph decided to open Fortune Firearms in December to serve a growing and rapidly changing clientele: women of all colors and backgrounds.

Joseph’s scenic Southern California property offers proof that women want guns to protect themselves against America’s escalating violence and are attending her classes to hone their shooting skills. These are women of all races and political parties — especially Democrats.

“The majority of people I know in my life are Democrats , and I do not know any who do not own guns,” said Joseph, the owner of Fortune Firearms shooting range. “What has started now is an increase of women getting involved. The majority of my clients are women. Women are getting trained; women are carrying… liberal and conservative.”

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Data from Harvard found that more than half of new gun owners are likely to be women. Joseph says many of her clients are more liberal women who don’t advertise that they’re carrying.

A California resident herself, Charlean Ward, recently attended Fortune Firearms training but she too is unlikely to flaunt her weaponry for the world to see.

“Most people have (in mind) the cookie-cutter firearm owner… right-wing…. But then there’s the other side that is quiet. They own guns. They’re buying them. They’re stockpiling ammo. It’s just not on their Facebook pages and it’s not their profile pictures,” she said.

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“I just feel liberated,” Ward said. “I feel like, let’s move to the next step: license to carry, get the concealed weapon.”

Though concealed carry is generally favorable to most gun owners, when it comes to Black people having the guns, new research shows racism is still inextricably tied to the 2nd amendment. Racially resentful White Americans show reduced support for concealed carry laws when Black Americans are thought to be exercising their legal right to carry guns more than White people, according to research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

While white men have the highest rates of gun ownership in the US, one survey shows that in the first half of 2021 roughly 90% of retailers saw a surge in gun sales to African Americans. The same survey found that about 80% of retailers reported an increase in firearm purchases by Hispanic and Asian Americans.