More female students are frequenting gun stores and firing ranges in search of a sense of security in a city where they have become the prey.
The recent discovery of LSU graduate student Carrie Yoder’s body in Whiskey Bay has prompted the latest surge in gun sales, said Precision Firearms sales clerk Tiffany Theriot.
The store saw similar boosts this summer as eventually four women were linked to the South Louisiana serial killer.
Third-year Vet School students Emily Medici and Marlowe Ward are two of several female students who have visited Precision Firearms and Indoor Range in recent months to purchase a gun and learn to use it.
“We came gun shopping and found out about Ladies’ Day,” Medici said.
On Mondays, if women purchase ammunition and a target, they do not have to pay the $15 fee to fire on the range, said Jeff Witas, a manager. The cost of the ammunition depends on the caliber of the bullet.
“This is my second time coming to practice at the firing range,” Medici said. “We came because we got our guns on Saturday and decided we needed to learn how to use them.”
Ward said the proximity of the murders has motivated her to get acquainted with using a weapon.
“All the killings have been between my house and campus,” she said.
Fear has driven female students to arm themselves. Some were not willing to give their full names to this article.
Melissa, a physiology graduate student, said she started coming to the range because her boyfriend wanted her to come.
“I’ve been coming since Pam Kinamore’s death,” she said. “I own a Glock .45.”
Melissa said she prefers a semiautomatic to the traditional revolver.
“You can put more bullets in a semiautomatic than a revolver,” she said. “A revolver’s trigger is harder to pull.”
Theriot said they started promoting the Ladies’ Days more when the killings began.
“Most women wouldn’t come otherwise,” she said.
Customers can shoot at targets up to 50 feet away; however, women who take self-defense training take aim at targets 10 to 15 feet away. In a real-life situation, women would be firing on an attacker from that close, Theriot said.
Lauren, a fashion design junior, bought a Glock .22.
“It’s fun, loud and empowering,” she said.
Theriot said she is saddened and sickened by the Baton Rouge murders and is tired of being afraid.
“If more women openly carried [weapons], there’d be a lot less victims in this town,” she said. “The only way to not be scared is to be ready.”
Precision Firearms is located at 11426 Cloverland Ave. Monday’s hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.