More women with guns in DC

We've had lots of reaction to last week's post showing young women who participated in the rifle team at Washington DC's Western High School in 1916. There are plenty of other photos that chronicle women's shooting sports, and civilians drilling with firearms in the nation's capital.

Could you imagine the fits the National Park Service and other agencies in Washington DC would have over a photo shoot like this today? In 1927, it appears the Women's Rifle Team from George Washington University had no trouble having its picture taken near the Lincoln Memorial. And they did it bearing arms.

National Photo Company Collection
Library of Congress

These young women could not only shoot, but apparently went through physical training drills with their rifles. Guns, activities involving them, and the spirit of camaraderie they bring were seen as positive experiences in the 1920s.

National Photo Company Collection
Library of Congress

And this 1925 shot of the GWU women offers another glimpse of physical activity with rifles. Guns are not only good for shooting, but in a team setting, can be used to scale walls and other obstacles. It's hard to imagine such drills taking place on most campuses today.

National Photo Company Collection
Library of Congress

Historical photos like these go a long way in dispelling myths that shooting was only a guy's sport in the past, or that it was popular only in rural areas. They also show women's marksmanship was among the more celebrated extracurricular activities in academic settings.

Thanks in part to photographic evidence, we know shooting sports were among the first organised school athletic activities for young women. These teams seem to have been especially well documented in the nation's capital, and seemed especially popular around the time women's suffrage became a reality. Chances are at least some of the women participating in shooting sports also considered themselves progressives.

And I've yet to find a press clipping or any other indication the guns or the people involved in these activities were ever involved in misuse of a firearm.