Teaching Women to Shoot: a Law Enforcement Instructor's Guide

by Vicki Farnam and Diane Nicholl

Reader Reviews

I have a lot of books cross my desk on a variety of subjects and have found most of them to be serious disappointments regardless of the subject. Vicki Farnam was kind enough to send me a copy of her and Diane Nicholl's first book, subtitled "A Law Enforcement Instructor's Guide". Vicki is the wife of good friend and superior instructor, John Farnam. Diane Nicholl is an experienced shooter and instructor in Colorado.

After reading this book the first time I was deeply impressed with it and the writing ability of its authors. I then put it on a corner of my desk for two weeks and have just finished reading it for a second time. It is quite simply a superb work on a critical subject.

Both Diane and Vicki realize there are critical differences between the ways men and women learn and should those differences be ignored in firearm instruction, most female officers will not develop the skills necessary to survive a gun fight.

Almost all of my training jobs have involved military special operations, police swat, and, currently, federal agents with national security responsibilities. As a result I've had few female students but my limited experiences square with Vicki and Diane's observations and recommendations. Women (Thankfully!!) think differently than men and approach the challenge of spatial relationships from a different starting point. It's not better or worse, just different..

The book not only carefully and skillfully describes such differences it offers simple and easily understood solutions. I appreciate their unwillingness to couch such differences in politically correct terms or simply gloss over them to find acceptance with a larger and trendier audience.

This book is a critically important one and there should be several copies of it in every firearms training unit in the country. If you have a wife, daughter, or significant other that you would like to see them develop their potential as a defensive handgun carrier this book is a critical key to unlocking their abilities. If I had a daughter embarking on a law enforcement career I would buy a copy for her and for every firearms instructor in her department.

Evan Marshall
Instructional Designer
National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Transportation Safeguards

Once in a great while a shooting book comes along that truly breaks new ground. Teaching Women To Shoot is such a book. I have taught with Diane Nicholl for ten years and have watched her apply her scientific background to solving the problems of beginner and remedial shooters. The book is deliberately structured to lead instructors along a path that begins with identifying problem areas, and understanding why women learn differently from men, to providing practical solutions.

Written from a law enforcement training perspective, this book is a valuable reference for any instructors who train women. Any man who has failed to teach a female relative to drive a car, or shoot a gun, knows how frustrating it can be for both parties. The teaching and learning processes are the same in both cases. Among other things, this book will help men to understand how women listen, understand, and learn, their mental focus, and the physical size problems they have with firearms designed by men, for men. This is not a feminist book. It does not advocate special treatment for women. It does provide instructors with several valuable tools to make them more effective. And all good instructors are always looking for that.

John Higgs
NRA Training Counselor / NRA Instructor
POST Certified Firearms Instructor

Copyright © 2002 by DTI Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.