More women taking advantage of their right to bear arms

More women taking advantage of their right to bear arms

By Sherea Harris

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - Many homeowners are taking control of their personal safety. A local gun store owner says more women are taking advantage of the right to bear arms.

These are mainly women who live alone and single moms.

Officials say women are seeing that there are more incidents of home invasions and burglaries and they want to protect themselves.

There are two recent incidents in which intruders broke into homes. They both were shot and killed by homeowners.

Hoover Tactical Firearms says since they opened about eight months ago, 25% of his hand gun sales have been to females.

FOX6 spoke to a female gun owner. She didn't want to be identified for safety reasons.

She says her husband is away from home often for business reasons.

"I am not afraid to use it, no. I'm afraid someone will get hurt trying to come steal something from me," she said.

Keep in mind that to carry a concealed weapon, you are required to have a pistol permit. Conversely, you don't need a premit to have a gun in your home.

Chief Deputy Randy Christian says female attendance at gun safety classes offered by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office are higher than ever before.

The classes are free and include use of a firing range.

You can call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at 849-5246 for more information.

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