Why this female firearm instructor says she wants more women to learn the sport

Sue Rueger was in her twenties when she started shooting at a gun club near Goderich, Ont.

At the time, she was one of few women around.

"It was pretty easy to win trophies back then, because there were no women shooters or very, very few," said Rueger.

Since then, things have changed.

It may be a bit tougher to bag a trophy these days, because shooting is becoming more and more popular among women, said Rueger, who is now a certified firearms instructor and teaches both the restricted and non-restricted Canadian firearm safety courses.

Ten years ago, Rueger may have had a few women in each of her courses.

Nowadays, a class could be between 60 to 80 per cent women, Rueger said. 

"I think women especially are sometimes a bit hesitant to get into shooting sports or take the course," said Rueger. "So going to a female instructor, you know, they appreciate that."

Shooting: Not just for widows anymore 

Numbers aside, the reason that women take Rueger's course has also changed in recent years.

When Rueger first began teaching, many of her female students were widows whose husbands had been avid shooters, and who left behind extensive gun collections when they passed away.

These women initially took the firearms course so that they could learn enough about guns to sell them, Rueger said. 

Instead, Rueger said many of them wound up drawn to the sport themselves, and said they wished they'd learned about it earlier. 

"It's sad to me when the widow, after finishing the course and passing the test, says, 'This was very educational, I wish I got out with my husband before he had died, I think I would've really enjoyed doing this with him,'" said Rueger.

These days, women take the course 'for themselves,' she said.

"They really want to try it, they have friends who have gotten into it," said Rueger.

"With the increase in some of the shooting sports, it's really growing, women are becoming much more of a demographic in the shooting sports and hunting."

Rueger said she hopes that women's growing interest in shooting sports means more families getting out in the wilderness to shoot and hunt. 

"It's a family tradition for a lot of us people here in Canada," said Rueger, who goes expedition moose hunting every year, and whose freezer is full of wild turkey, moose and waterfowl.

'There's a lot of opposition'

Rueger said part of what she likes about her job is 'pushing people to her side of the fence,' gun-wise. She thinks most people only hear about guns in the context of violent crime, and wants to show that sport shooters and hunters are, for the most part, safe and responsible people. 

"Here in Canada we are pretty strictly regulated," she said, adding that you need a license in Canada to buy guns and ammunition. 

"There's a lot of opposition against guns, so when we can get ladies out to try shooting and see how much fun it is and how good they are at it... It really to me is the future of something we're passionate about here," said Rueger.

"I think everyone should try shooting."