SI0519—Page 42

SI0519Photo by SITKA Gear BY DEB FERNS MENTOR ARE YOU ONE? Mentorship Plays Crucial Role In Developing New Shooters T he word “mentor” is a noun when indicating an “experienced and trusted adviser,” while also serving as a verb — “training or advising someone, especially a younger colleague.” When I think of a mentor, I envision someone who is more of a leader versus a volunteer. (A volunteer being a secondary support role, more as a “body” to help out at an event.) There’s an increasing number of women entering the ﬁrearms market through the shooting sports, hunting, an interest in concealed carry and/or a gun for home protection. It probably doesn’t come as a huge shock along with the rising number of women purchasing guns there “might be” a rise in the number of women who own and operate a gun store. For this piece, two female gun store owners — one in Wyoming and another in Texas — lend their helpful experiences. Each has a different type of gun store and a different way to mentor women getting involved with ﬁrearms. They veriﬁed their mentoring programs, both started in 2017, have created sales for their gun stores over the past few years. OVERCOMING A SLOW START To say Kathy Lundberg, co- owner of the Big Horn Trading Company in Sheridan Wyo., was a total ﬁrearms novice when she and her husband John started the business ﬁve years ago is an understatement. “I was terriﬁed and anxious about guns even though it was a big part of running the business. While I didn’t mind ringing sales up on the register I’d go out of my way to not actually handle a gun,” she confessed. Eventually, Lundberg did go to a gun range to overcome her reluctance about ﬁrearms. he shared, “It seemed the guys were only interested in talking about 42 MAY 2019 Subscribe to SI DIGITAL www.shootingindustry.comPage 41Page 43

.