Lois Burr signed up shortly afterward and is also a life member and a member of the Illinois State Rifle Association. Pro-gun groups claim the number of women owning guns has continually grown, with anywhere from 15 to 43 percent of women having them. But a 1994 study by Tom Smith and Robert Smith, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, estimates that the gender gap in gun ownership has not shifted markedly since 1980. Their study found that about 11.6 percent of adult women in the United States own firearms and 7.4 percent own handguns. Gun manufacturers and outfitters have begun to cater to female customers.
Several companies have guns geared toward women.
And holster manufacturers are designing them to fit a woman's curves, even coming up with holster purses and fanny packs, Tartaro says.