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As More Women Buy Guns, Local Classes Cater To Ladies

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- More women are pulling the trigger and buying guns.

A Maryland company, Practical Training Professionals (PTP), is having special classes that focus specifically on females and firearms.

On Sunday, it was a packed house in Timonium for a training that could mean life or death.

"The two causes of firearm accidents is ignorance, and negligence," says Ryan Gass, owner of PTP. "What we are doing today is trying to break through that ignorance."

Lanette Myers and her daughter came from Gaithersburg to attend the class.

"I feel it's very important just to know the basic things to be able to protect myself regardless of the situation," Myers says.

The ladies-only course covers self-defense, and how to keep guns away from children.

"We're going over the basic parts, nomenclature of handguns, the safety rules pertaining to how to safely handle firearms as well as the principles of marksmanship," says Gass.

"I think knowledge is power and if you are going to take something seriously, like buying a gun, then I think you should know how to be safe with it," says Janice Tuzcan of Rosedale.

"There's no intimidation," says Myers. "It's very comfortable here, there's no intimidating. There's no wondering 'Should I ask this, should I not ask this, should I feel stupid, should I not?'"

"They come in a little apprehensive, looking around and what not and by the time they leave, they leave with a smile on their face" says Gass.

Manufacturers are gearing advertising toward women, marketing special firearms with smaller frames, custom colors and accessories.

According to a Pew research study in 2017, women are more likely than men to say protection - rather than recreation - is the reason they own a gun.

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