Women are one of the fastest-growing segments of the firearm market. All over the nation, millions of women have become first-time gun buyers in the midst of a pandemic and last summer’s rioting.

The problem is that a gun is the kind of thing you really need to know how to use. Without that knowledge, you could hurt yourself or others.

Yet many women feel intimidated attending co-ed classes. While they probably shouldn’t–most gun folks are pretty open and are thrilled to help anyone regardless of anything–they are and that’s just how it is.

Now, a gun-rights group wants to train thousands of women how to shoot.

Legally Armed in Detroit founder Rick Ector said the group hopes to provide lessons to 4,000 women. The sessions will include a firearm instructor’s safety briefing, use of a firearm, ammunition and range time.

No prior firearms training or experience is required, Ector said.

The free lessons have been offered for a decade. Fifty women received training the first year and more than 1,900 women participated last year, Ector added.

That’s some pretty substantial growth, to be sure, and I hope Ector is successful in achieving that goal. After all, Detroit isn’t exactly a safe place to live, so plenty of newly armed women in the Motor City should take him up on this.

Especially with ammo included. That’s pure gold right there in this day and age, let me tell you.

The thing is, people shouldn’t turn down good training, and from what I’ve gathered about what Ector does, it’s good training. They can learn to safely fire their weapon and build some proficiency, skills they can take to additional training classes. Even if they don’t, they still have a baseline that will at least teach them the essentials of how to operate their firearm safely.

While we might like them to take lots of training and become skilled at not just static shooting but also with how to fight with their firearm, that’s not in the cards for everyone.

The fact that this training is primarily geared toward women will also help many women who might otherwise stay away. As noted previously, many women feel intimidated entering spaces they think of as “male.” This includes things like the gym or something like a woodworking class, just to name a couple of examples. They’re not, but if women see it that way, that intimidation may exist. They believe they’ll feel unwelcome.

By providing a space for women to learn with other women, you take that out of the equation.

If you’re in the area or can travel to the area without much difficulty and you know a woman in need of training, I highly recommend you suggest this class as an alternative. At the very least, it’ll show you care about their safety. At most, you’ll encourage someone to hit the rage and find out just how much fun it is to go shooting.

And really, that becomes a win for each and every one of us.