In April 1898, Annie Oakley sent a letter to President William McKinley. The Spanish-American War had begun, and she offered to recruit fifty women to fight for the United States Army. Each recruit would supply her own ammunition and carbine. McKinley declined the offer, but Oakley had already spent a decade teaching American women how to shoot.
Studio photographers across the country did brisk business with armed female clients. Between 1880 and 1910, thousands of women walked into downtown portrait parlors wearing wool skirts and high-button shoes. They rested Colt revolvers and double-barrel shotguns across their laps.
Some portraits were staged with photographer-owned props. Tintype operators kept unloaded pistols behind the counter for theatrical poses. County records and hunting licenses showed that just as many women brought their own firearms directly from home.
Out on homesteads in Kansas and Wyoming, rattlesnakes and coyotes were constant threats. Farm wives kept small Stevens rifles beside kitchen doors. A woman living twenty miles from the nearest town had to defend livestock and children without waiting for help.
Urban women took to shooting ranges for sport and self-defense. By 1900, gunmakers like Iver Johnson ran national advertisements targeting female buyers. Small pocket revolvers with pearl grips fit neatly inside muff hand-warmers and handbags.
American universities organized women's varsity rifle teams by the 1920s. Female shooters at Drexel Institute and George Washington University wore heavy canvas coats. They fired .22-caliber target rifles in campus basements, lying flat on canvas mats.
Rifle clubs formed in office buildings. Typists and clerks practiced marksmanship on Thursday evenings, mailing their paper targets across state lines to settle national rankings.
Hunting expanded during the Great Depression. With grocery budgets thin, women shot rabbits, quail, and deer for food. Winchester rifles and shotguns became common household tools.
The Second World War brought civilian firearms back into defense work. In Great Britain, politician Edith Summerskill organized the Women's Home Defence in December 1940. Parliament refused to let women join the official Home Guard, so Summerskill recruited civilian volunteers to learn street fighting.
British women gathered on weekends in vacant lots. Former army sergeants drilled them with Enfield rifles and double-barrel shotguns. They learned how to crawl under wire and clear rifle jams.
American cities organized auxiliary squads to guard aircraft factories and shipyards. Women patrolled supply yards in Detroit and Los Angeles carrying .38-caliber Colt revolvers in leather holsters.
New York bank tellers took mandatory target practice in underground police lanes. Tellers practiced drawing snub-nosed revolvers from cash drawers under the supervision of city detectives.
By 1944, competitive shooting resumed across the American Midwest. Civilian gun clubs reopened outdoor ranges for skeet shoots and small-bore rifle matches.
On December 3, 1944, the British government stood down the Home Guard. Edith Summerskill's defense corps disbanded soon after, ending four years of organized volunteer rifle training across Britain.
