A female deputy sheriff in the 1950's was often handed a uniform, a revolver and a badge. She might go to the range once a year to fire her gun but would not be required to shoot a weapons qualification course. During her career, she would receive little formal firearms training. Today every woman who enters the field of law enforcement receives firearms instruction while attending an academy. Yet this training does not seem to be working well for many female recruits. In agencies across the nation, women are still more likely than men to fail their weapons qualifications and are more likely to be receiving remedial firearms training.
Extensive investigation of this problem leads us to conclude that men and women learn shooting skills in different ways. Typically women learn best when the fundamentals of shooting are broken down into small segments and there is time to master each part before new material is presented. In other words, women want detailed instruction and adequate time to practice a new skill. Men typically do not need such detailed explanations. This fact helps to explain why some of the methods instructors have used successfully with male students do not work as well for female students.
We believe an increase in the number of struggling shooters may also be related to the growing percentage of male and female recruits entering law enforcement with no prior experience with firearms. Instructors accustomed to teaching students who are familiar with firearms may not realize how many new recruits have never touched a gun or set foot on a firing range. These students are often too self-conscious to ask questions and they leave the academy without fully understanding the fundamentals of shooting. We work with both male and female officers from across the country who do not fully understand the relationship between their eye, the rear sight, front sight and where the bullet strikes the target.
Over the years, we have come to understand the frustrations of both the firearms instructors and the officers who are struggling with their firearms skills. The good news is - It does not have to be this way! The bad news is - There is no instant cure. The transformation from a struggling shooter to a competent shooter does not happen overnight. We know that time on the range is a precious commodity so our goal is to help instructors learn how to make the most of each training session.
Our goal for this book is to present information that instructors and students can use to help them shoot to the best of their ability. We cannot do this without acknowledging that there is a difference in how women and men learn shooting skills.
It is important to understand that we are discussing the "average" woman and the "average" man. There will always be exceptions. For example, there are women who can run a mile in just over four minutes and there are men who struggle to finish in eight minutes. In general, the "average" man will run a mile in less time than the "average" woman. This does not make one gender superior to the other, it is just the way our bodies work.
Copyright © 2002 by DTI Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.