This year, the day after Thanksgiving saw Americans finally getting back to the business Americans love: Shopping!

FBI statistics show that a new record was set during that one Friday for background check requests from gun buyers. There were 129,166 requests to the NICS. That was a third more than the previous all-time record of 97,848 on Black Friday 2008. On Black Friday last year, there were 87,061 requests.

Some of the buyers believe that stockpiling guns is a better way to prepare for hard times than gold. Nevertheless, many of those shopping for guns at several gun stores in the Federal Way area were almost certainly women purchasing guns for their own protection.

Federal Way’s local Armed Defense Training Association has been in contact with an instructor named Jennie at Rivendell Sales and Consulting in Kent. Jennie teaches women how to shoot. She owns and operates a store that markets to women who shoot.

I asked her what ladies need to know when they first decide to buy a gun. The first consideration, she stated, is not to let someone at a gun shop — or a well-meaning significant other — sell you a small gun that “you shoot once, it hurts and you put it away.”

Jennie said a woman needs her own gun that fits. “I have seen too many ladies with a gun that does not fit their hand, one that is too large a caliber for a beginner, or they are told at some gun shop that the itty-bitty gun is just the one for them. The gun that does not fit you right just goes unused and sits on a shelf.”

Jennie encourages her students to consciously make the decision to defend their own life. “If you are killed or severely injured, how will your family function without you?”

Of course, hardly anyone ever actually states that his or her own life is not worth defending. But, despite all the philosophical and political arguments, take the steps to get trained and actually get a gun into your hands. This demonstrates that you are prepared to fight back.

Jennie demystifies the “danger” of guns. She told me, “I have seen many ladies not even sure they want to touch a gun. Her students learn quickly that a gun does not go off by itself. Once a woman realizes that she can effectively and safely operate the efficient little safety device, fear goes away and smiles start to appear.”

However, too many women take a beginner class and think that they are ready to go out on the street and deal with all the legal, physical and emotional things that go with armed self-defense.

“In order to carry for self-defense, you have to make the commitment to train and practice,” Jennie explains. “Training generally teaches you a skill and how to practice that skill; practice needs to continue on a regular basis.” Jennie recommends competition to test skills, keep skills sharp and make training interesting and fun.

“The holster that fits a slim man will usually not work for a curvy lady.” Men behind the gun counter, who have absolutely no idea what a lady needs for shooting gear, are the reason why Jennie became an instructor and opened her gun shop. Apparently, in the world of women’s self-defense, most of the old wives’ tales are perpetuated by men.

According to John Lott, the longer “shall issue” laws (such as Washington’s concealed carry law that requires a permit to issue within thirty days) are in place in a state, the more effective they are. In the period studied, for every five years a shall-issue law was in place, murder rates dropped by at least 15 percent, robberies by 11 percent and rapes by 9 percent. The benefits of concealed-carry laws for women are especially striking. According to Lott’s research, one additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about three to four times more than one additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.

According to LAUREL S. BARTON, a guest columnist in the Seattle PI:

Most people will be horrified and will fail to ask the crucial, underlying question: How many of those guns were purchased legally? After all, laws will affect guns legally acquired, not those from secondary sources. The answer: 15 percent of guns used in crimes are legally obtained. That leaves 85 percent unaffected by changes to gun control laws.

The number of crimes prevented by firearms based on incidents reported to the police nationwide is roughly 64,615 yearly; the estimate can jump as high as 2.45 million if one factors in unreported cases. Compare those numbers to 30,000 gun-related deaths yearly and one can see the difference is, at the very least, 34,000 people saved by guns.

According to an article in the Detroit News a few years ago, Americans own more than 200 million firearms, more than 60 million of which are handguns (National Institute of Justice statistics):

“Figures vary widely about the gender breakdown of ownership, but federal statistics claim 9 percent of women own guns.”

Brian Anse Patrick, a professor at the University of Toledo who studies gun culture, has observed that, as concealed carry permits are becoming more available due to rapidly changing laws in many states, the issue of concealed carry has become mainstream and more women are carrying:

“Before the CCW laws were liberalized, the people getting trained traditionally in gun culture were the old white guys,” Patrick said. “But after (2001) women said, ‘I am a woman and at risk and it’s a pretty sensible thing to do.‘”

In Colorado, a woman named Jeanne Assam, was thrown right into the path of a mad-dog killer:

Amid deafening cracks of gunfire, smoke-spewing canisters and the flight of thousands of New Life Church members, Jeanne Assam said she suddenly saw the hallways clear and a gunman come through the door.

“I took cover. I identified myself. I engaged him. I took him down,” the 42-year-old former law officer and volunteer church security guard said Monday at a news conference in the Colorado Springs police station.

The armed attacker invading the church was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

See also Michelle Malkin “Feminization of Gun Debate.”

“Generally a lot of women are out alone at night and they just want to feel like they have that level of protection. There are also a lot of single moms who feel it is important to protect their family and their kids in that regard.”

If you are a woman or man that has questions, comments or additional information, including statistics pertaining to concealed carry permits issued in the Seattle-Tacoma area you should send us an e-mail at knapp.m@comcast.net.