It’s always great seeing individuals come up with pro-shooting sport initiatives. The forefront of our movement will always stem from the grassroots level, and those men and woman who go above and beyond.
One of those women is Marion Barnes. Marion is a member of the SSAA Shepparton Branch, and organises the annual ‘Girls with Guns’ day.
Some words from Marion below:
“This is what can be achieved when passion combines with common sense, to achieve a fantastic outcome for our sport. Women in shooting sports is the fastest growing demographic, therefore we need to see more ranges stepping up and following the lead that SSAA Shepparton range is doing.
Range publicity officer and coordinator of the “Girls with Guns” event Marion Barnes, would like to give thanks and acknowledgement to SSAA Shepparton in putting this day together. Marion credits a wise man for telling her that “everything starts with an idea” She had this crazy notion to run a triple discipline event from her range to allow ladies to get a feeling for what discipline they would feel comfortable shooting, she credits her range for having the foresight in supporting her idea.
Marion wishes to thank her forward thinking committee and band of hard working volunteers for their support. We delivered a great experience for the ladies, with many now looking to take up the sport with several signed up for membership on the day and several junior licence applications were taken home. To assist the ladies in taking the next step, we provided packs for the ladies to take home, consisting of information on how to set about getting their license, the firearms safety code handbook, licence application and information from SSAA on safe storage of firearms.
Marion had the day fully sponsored so it was a totally free day for the ladies and acknowledges what an important role sponsors play, as without their support we could not offer this day free to our ladies. The feedback has been simply amazing and proves we are on a winning idea in presenting shooting as a viable sport conducted in a safe heavily controlled environment under instruction. Shooting is the perfect sport that appeals to all ages and abilities. We had 12yr old girls right through to a retired professional lady at 70ys old and all enjoyed the day amongst their peers.”
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