Pistol-packing mamas, and daughters, take increasing aim

Donna Major of Dorchester raised her 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Her 27-year-old son and his girlfriend lingered a few feet behind her, watching intently over her shoulder. Four other women looked on.

Major kept her hands steady, her eyes focused on the target 50 feet in front of her. She gently squeezed the trigger.

Bang!

The red balloon hanging from the ceiling popped immediately. Major, 50, pulled the trigger again, and again, shooting down bowling pins and bursting balloons in the Boston Gun and Rifle Association's indoor firing range.

After firing a few rounds, Major put down the weapon. She turned around, gave a thumbs-up signal to her son, Justin, and said, ''How's your mother?" Then she laughed and hugged him.

It was Justin's girlfriend's turn next. Amida Guzman, 26, of Brockton, stepped forward to the yellow line to shoot. The group spent the rest of the evening taking turns shooting various targets and cheering each other on.

It was a typical practice session for members of the Second Amendment Sisters, a national women's gun rights group. Since it was founded in 1999, the Texas-based organization has grown to about 10,000 members in 30 states, said Lee Ann Tarducci, the group's director of operations.

According to the group's website, www.2asisters.org, 17 million women in the United States own guns, and that number is growing. But female gun owners are far outnumbered by gun-toting males. A 1994 survey by the US Department of Justice found a huge gender gap in gun ownership: 42 percent of men owned guns, compared with 9 percent of women.

Second Amendment Sisters aims to educate women about firearms and gun laws. Promotional pamphlets feature a single red rose and the group's slogan, ''Self defense is a basic human right." Members get together to learn how to load and shoot revolvers, semiautomatic pistols, and rifles.

Major organized the group's Friday night shooting session at the Boston Gun and Rifle Association, a private indoor firing range on Dorchester Avenue, next to the Fields Corner MBTA station. The squat brick building houses the indoor shooting range, a gun supply shop, and a lounge with walls covered in circa 1970s-style wood paneling.

Major is a card-carrying member of the club. She started shooting four years ago, ''when I was going through a midlife crisis," she said, chuckling. ''I wanted to do something different."

Now she enjoys shooting during her time off from work at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where she is an MRI technician.

''I am more of a solitary person. I like to compete against myself," said Major. ''I do find it calming. It's exciting when you hit where you want."

The Massachusetts chapter has 130 members. Women join for different reasons, said Lynne Roberts, the state coordinator. Many want to buy firearms for self-defense; others want to learn to shoot because they have male friends or family members who do.

The group reaches out to beginners, some of whom don't own firearms. Roberts brings spare firearms and ammunition to shooting practices for novices, and keeps extra paper targets tucked inside her red polka-dot beach bag.

Most new members end up purchasing a firearm within a year, Roberts said.

Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University, has concerns about gun groups like the Second Amendment Sisters. Firearms can be an effective means of self defense, said Levin, but only under ideal conditions -- which rarely occur.

''You must be absolutely sure that children do not have access, you must keep a firearm separate from bullets, and in a place of concealment where other people wouldn't find it. You should keep the gun unloaded. The problem with that is, when an intruder threatens you, what good is your unloaded weapon?"

According to the National Sporting Goods Association, in 1998, 2.7 million women participated in target shooting; by 2003, the number was 3.9 million.

At Friday night's shoot, Evelyn Freeman of South Boston used her own Springfield .45-caliber handgun. Her knit cardigan sweater covered the holster on her hip.

Freeman, 47, was introduced to shooting 10 years ago while dating an ex-Marine. Today, she shoots regularly and reads Women & Guns magazine. She joined Second Amendment Sisters after she met Roberts at a South Shore gun show.

''All mothers and women are against violence, but they're all not against guns and safe gun ownership," said Freeman.

''Someone told me about the way the gun laws were going. . . . I hate being told I can't do something."

For years, Freeman was unaware that the Boston Gun and Rifle Association existed. The entrance is on Faulkner Street, a short block of three-deckers off the heavily traveled Dot Ave, and visitors must ring a buzzer to get inside. The letters ''BGRA" on a gray metal door is the only sign on the nondescript building that was once a parking garage. Since 1976, the facility has served as headquarters for the gun association; for 22 years, it has also been used for MBTA police training.

''It's the best kept secret," said Jackie Beard, a BGRA instructor.

Zoe Scott, a sophomore at UMass-Boston, attended the Friday night shoot with her mother. It was her second time shooting with her mom, Jackie Scott, a paralegal from Brookline and avid target shooter.

Dressed in a David Bowie T-shirt, jeans, and white Converse sneakers, the younger Scott stepped up to the yellow line with a gun in her hand.

Jackie Scott watched proudly as her daughter shot the balloons and bowling pins.

''That's my baby!" cried Scott, 53.

Major nodded in agreement.

''Who says women can't shoot?" she said.

Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com.