Why The Gun Industry Is Finally Taking Aim At Women
A long forgotten demographic is now key to the future of American gun companies
Imagine for a moment that you’re a marketer for a gun company in the United States. You have your work cut out for you: according to the Small Arms Survey of 2017, there are 120 guns in US civilian ownership for every 100 Americans, more than twice the per capita rate of the next highest country (Yemen). So, in the most oversaturated gun market in the world, and in a country where gun ownership is strictly divided along partisan lines, how can you possibly find big new markets to generate the constantly increasing profits expected by corporate shareholders?
In the past decade, a clear answer has emerged: you start targeting the women in gun households.
Traditionally, gun ownership and hunting have been male-dominated pursuits, but although some conservative gun owners might not see a problem in that, it’s a huge issue for the gun industry. Most obviously you’re missing out on a huge potential market, and a market that tends to spend large sums of money on lucrative accessories; there’s now a thriving range of gun-friendly handbags and designer holsters targeted primarily at the female market.
