Women are one of the largest growing demographics of gun owners in the United States. Gun Owners of America’s Terra Semaia talked to Bearing Arms about the Empowered 2A program.
GOA’s Empowered 2A is a women’s outreach program that believes in enabling women, rather than restricting them. Their ideology is that self-defense is a human right and they use the motto “Gun Rights Are Women's Rights.” Terra Semaia is one of the volunteers who helps with the program. Semaia was recently named as a program coordinator and she took some time to tell us about what Empowered 2A is all about.
Like many in the advocacy world, Semaia has punched her card as a student turned instructor, and quickly found herself enveloped by grassroots activism. The petite activist hailing from upper state New York — now a resident of Massachusetts — said that she was surrounded by firearms since she was a youth. However, it wasn’t until she was an adult that she got completely sucked into the Second Amendment arena.
“I started actually training other women a few, maybe about four years ago,” Semaia reflected. “I just fell in love with what I was doing for myself, and realized, you know, the sort of the climate that we're in here in the Northeast right now — in Massachusetts, that I needed to expand.” Semaia said it was then that she started to get involved with organizations.
One of the appealing things about GOA, she said, is their stance on the Second Amendment. But, what brought her to them in the first place?
“I don't know if you're familiar with who Stephen Williford is, but he is the Sutherland Springs, Texas man who, single handedly, essentially stopped the church shooter,” Semaia explained. “I was at SHOT Show last year — just attending on my own with my training company, and I wanted to meet Steve Williford. He was at the Gun Owners of America booth. So I went there and started talking to the team. From there, this great relationship was born.”
A few short months later, Semaia was at the 2025 Empowered 2A Women’s Range day as a volunteer. Fast forward to today; she’s now a national figure in the organization.
Semaia has announced that the 2026 event is penciled-in to take place in Epping, N.H.
“We're very excited about range day,” Semaia said. “Before that, we will be at SHOT Show again. … We will be doing this amazing event called Project Gunway — so think Project Runway red carpet event, but Project Gunway. … We will be there doing red carpet interviews and really spreading the word.”
John Velleco, the executive vice president of Gun Owners of America spoke enthusiastically about the Empowered 2A program. He explained that the program was founded by Antonia Okafor, who brought it to GOA.
Velleco said that Empowered 2A is a meaningful counter narrative to what some of the “mom” and other groups are. He explained that those anti-gun groups have followers that are onboard because of the rhetoric that they’re all about protecting children.
“For the uninitiated — and moms in particular — it's like, ‘Sign me up! Of course, we want to protect children!’” Velleco told Bearing Arms. “And if that's all you know is [that they] want to protect children from violence, then who would oppose that?”
Velleco went on to say that groups like Moms Demand Action, Everytown, and Sandy Hook Promise “don't tell you [] that in order to do that, they're running right into what Ben Franklin warned about so many years ago: that if you trade your essential liberty for security, you deserve and you will get neither.”
He said it’s his belief that there are followers on the “outer edge” and only need to be exposed to something other than what the anti-liberty groups have been serving up. “No, if you want safety, if you want security — you need empowerment,” Velleco said. “And what [the anti-gun groups are] asking for is the opposite. But we want them to know that.”
The Empowered 2A program is about choice. “We're not telling people that they have to do anything,” Velleco said. Should an individual wish to exercise their constitutional right, they should be able to and the best way to get that information out there is through education.
Beyond education, Velleco said change is necessary too. For example, he said that “there's absolutely no reason a mom dropping her kids off at school [should have] to disarm because she's driving through a school property or even going inside a school.” He continued by asserting that GOA “want[s] women to be empowered to protect themselves.”
“We want to challenge any mom out there, any person in particular, [that] if you're afraid of guns for whatever reason, or you have zero experience, let's go out to the range. Let's talk about it. Let's go shooting,” Velleco closed with. “And maybe it will change your perspective. Maybe it won't, but at least you'll know what all of your options are.”
Semaia issued a call to action when asked about having any parting words.
Semaia has lived in Massachusetts for almost a decade and said that the climate for the Second Amendment in the Bay State is not good. As an activist, she’s worked closely with the groups fighting to reverse the tide of the anti-gun push in the Northeast.
The post-Bruen response in Massachusetts has been as bad as it’s been in the other Bruen-affected states. The repeal of their response law will be coming up for a vote in the next Massachusetts gubernatorial election.
“We have a very important vote coming up in November 2026 and I know that's a year away, but that will come and go very quickly,” Semaia said. “We want to repeal Chapter 135, the law that was passed by the governor last year that was severely hindering our Second Amendment rights here in Massachusetts.”
Semaia warned that while Massachusetts is one state, others will follow in adopting anti-liberty laws. “Rhode Island's going through some of the same right now,” she observed. “New York has been a little crazy for a long time. [Get] engaged with your local politicians — get engaged with your state politicians and even with the federal government.”
Ensuring that everyone is aware of what’s happening in the Northeast and states similarly situated, Semaia said, is important. “I couldn't be a one woman — [just one] advocate,” Semaia told Bearing Arms. “Not that I'm saying you can't do that, but it's great to have a band of sisters and brothers behind you — fighting for the cause.”
Empowered 2A has been gaining momentum over the last few years and it’s exciting to see what will come from the program. Through continued reevaluation and reinvention, Gun Owners of America is working hard to deliver quality programs that’ll help educate the public at large; women in particular with Empowered 2A.
For more information about Empowered 2A, head over to: GunOwners.org/Empowered/. If you’re interested in catching our full interview with Terra Semaia, you can check that out HERE or in the embed below.
Editor's Note: Second Amendment advocates like Semaia are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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