A local “a girl and a gun“, Julianna Crowder is featured in today’s (July 18,2012) issue of The Shooting Wire.

Founded in February of 2011 in Austin, Texas by Julianna Crowder, a female (obviously) firearms instructor, A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League was born out of Crowder’s desire to build a stronger community of women shooters.

Using a little marketing savvy and a variety of social media tools, including MeetUp.com, Crowder kicked off her A Girl & A Gun events, like Girl’s Night Out, Breakfast & Bullets, and “T” Time (the “T” is for “target” or “trigger”, natch), with just five or so participants.

And then it began to grow…and grow…and, grow faster.

This past February A Girl & A Gun celebrated its one year anniversary with 250 members. Today, they have approximately 470 members – a mere 88% growth in five months – with 11 chapters in Texas, one each in Colorado and Virginia, and chapters forming this year in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia.’

It’s been great watching Julianna work and her project grow as much as it has in such a short time.

But to author and editor Paul Erhardt, I do have to say:

A Girl & A Gun gives its members a fun, social atmosphere in which to learn about firearms, without the interference of what Michael Bane famously described as the “Little Lady Syndrome” where men are compelled to be the “experts” and end up coming across more condescending than chivalrous.

Sorry ladies. We can’t help it, it’s in our DNA.

Actually Paul, we CAN help being condescending.

Other than that, it’s a great article about Julianna’s efforts. Cheers!