'Palin Effect'? NRA Credits Ex-Governor's Rise For Growing Female Membership (VIDEO)

The National Rifle Association has experienced a sizable jump in female membership over the past few years, a trend that some of the group's leaders are suggesting is a result of what they're calling the "Palin effect."

According to a report from the Daily Mail, the NRA has seen a growth of around 20 percent in its female ranks.

Diane Danielson, an instructor for NRA's Women On Target program, told the Daily Mail that the so-called "Palin effect" had helped draw 10,000 new women a year to the firearms programs and bring hunting into the mainstream scope of women's activities.

Palin has been an avid spokesperson for firearms rights and hunting, a role that she notoriously epitomized last year in an episode of her show "Sarah Palin's Alaska," when she shot and killed a caribou.

ABC News reports some interesting data on the surge of new women hunters:

More women than men took up hunting in the United States in 2009, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. Total hunters in the United States decreased by .05 percent, but the number of female hunters increased 5.4 percent, which led to 163,000 new hunters.

And with the influx of female firearms enthusiasts, gun companies appear to be taking notice.

"Firearm manufacturers are gearing their products towards women. They're scaling down stocks, and shortening trigger pull lengths for our shorter fingers," Danielson told the Daily Mail.

But the Palin-NRA connection, whatever the real significance, is not a one-way street. Last year, the gun-rights organization booked the former Alaska governor to speak at their annual conference in Charlotte.

The Associated Press reported on her speech at the time:

"Don't doubt for a minute that, if they thought they could get away with it, they would ban guns and ban ammunition and gut the Second Amendment," said Palin, a lifelong NRA member who once had a baby shower at a local gun range in Alaska. "It's the job of all of us at the NRA and its allies to stop them in their tracks."

WATCH via ABC News:

Comments

[indy girl]

08:21 AM on 03/11/2011

"NRA Cites 'Palin Effect' For Growing Female Membership"

Wow. So do those new female NRA members actually know how to load their own guns? Or are they hunter pretenders like Quitter Whinypants?

[molonlabe]

02:58 PM on 03/07/2011

"little baggers"

My my. The anti-gunners really would have nothing without ad hominem, would they?

Makes you look silly and childish.

[molonlabe]

03:14 PM on 03/07/2011

"All told, H.R. 2038 is a giant step closer to the goal stated by Clinton ban sponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), on CBS' "60 Minutes"-- "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in, I would have done it."

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?id=114&issue=019

You were saying?

[molonlabe]

03:01 PM on 03/07/2011

Snuffaluffagus would never have been able to survive on Sesame Street because Sesame Street lacked sufficient vegetation to support his diet.

Oh, sorry. I thought we were playing the "lets throw out senseless, non-pertinent statements" game.

You're up.

[niteklubber]

04:00 PM on 03/07/2011

The fact that their desire to emulate a blatant ignoramus such as Palin motivates some women to join the NRA is, indeed, pertinent.

[1differentdrummer]

05:40 AM on 03/07/2011

Wouldn't the NRA say that even if they'd lost members?

[grossmont325]

12:26 PM on 03/07/2011

What I find telling is that the NRA is GAINING members (including women) and gun banning groups like the Brady Campaign is losing membership (and the Bradys are going broke)

[Toonadude]

01:00 PM on 03/07/2011

What I find telling is that the general theme of this article is about hunting and yet you do not scream that the 2A has nothing to do with hunting. I guess as long as Palin is filling the NRA coffers it doesn't matter that the message is skewed. Looks like Palin is a lock for the coveted LaPierre endorsement when she throws in for POTUS.

But maybe LaPierre will ponder the questions that surround Palin -- the questions that all thinking Americans have about her -- questions about her governance and judgment -- before he endorses her ? ------------------- NAAA !!!

NRA = $hill for the Repug$$$

[PRR Fan]

04:09 PM on 03/07/2011

They'll doubtless be calling for a subsidy. To keep things fair, you know....

[pjwrites]

05:22 AM on 03/07/2011

Why are Palin's photos always so heavily photo-shopped?

[demorick2]

11:24 AM on 03/07/2011

If they weren't they'd be even scarier than they are...

[molonlabe]

01:14 PM on 03/07/2011

Why do people post useless questions which have absolutely nothing to do with the topic?

[niteklubber]

04:26 PM on 03/07/2011

Same reason other people post pointless replies to them, I'm guessing.

[FatFeline]

05:14 AM on 03/07/2011

HP is clearly feeling the Palin effect. No other news source features her as often and as thoroughly as does HP.

[SouthernJewel]

12:18 PM on 03/07/2011

It's called ad-sense.
Clicks for $$$
They know the 'baggers & lovers of Quittypants will come to defend her.
They also know that those of us who have research skills will come to post the facts for SEO benefits.

Facts:
Quittypant s Palin and her rifle skills.
There were five shots in the unedited version.
Yet the caribou didn't react to the sound of Sarah's five missed shots?
Edited.
The video
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chr is-matthews-calls-sarah-palin-a-dead-shot-but-unedited-video-suggests-otherwise/ brings to mind several questions regarding hunting, gun safety and Sarah Palin's technique.
She didn't have on the safety.
Sarah was a few inches away from pointing the barrel of the rifle right at the head of the guy in the green shirt at 3:31 in the video

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-matthews-calls-sarah-palin-a-dead-shot-but-unedited-video-suggests-otherwise/

[FatFeline]

01:39 PM on 03/07/2011

The reason there are so many articles about her here is because it satisfies the mean streak in the Pinko Flea Baggers like you. Admit it. You just loved posting about your perceived capabilities of Plain with firearms. It made you feel so good about yourself that you may have even had an orgasm.

[Roseann Cherasaro]

01:41 PM on 03/07/2011

Hah..yes..as some one who has grown up around hunters I find it appalling that few have noticed just how unsafe a''hunter'' that Palin is! I don't any hunters who would go out in the woods with her..really! She was waving that brand new shiny gun around like it was a toy.The first thing you are taught in gun safety is''only point at what you are about to shoot''.

[duxguts]

02:18 AM on 03/07/2011

Laugh at her all you like but the money keeps rolling in.

[MarkAntney]

05:31 AM on 03/07/2011

Love Brokers (pimps and tutes), Street Pharmacists (Dealers), The Mob, WallStreet (see 13Trillion fiasco), Blackwater, Dictators, Rogue Policeman (see Street Pharmacists and Love Brokers for reference),... Make Money, most elected officials in DC are millionaires

[1differentdrummer]

05:41 AM on 03/07/2011

That's it. She scoops up the $$$. How do people fall for that noise?

[demorick2]

11:25 AM on 03/07/2011

Double-digit IQs...

[palinrevolution]

01:54 AM on 03/07/2011

God created man and woman. Smith and Wesson made them equal

[1differentdrummer]

05:43 AM on 03/07/2011

I thought the constitution and several laws did that, but I like the humor.

[PRR Fan]

04:12 PM on 03/07/2011

Not quite. According to the Declaration of Independence, its our Creator who endows us with our rights. The Constitution restrains the power of government so that it doesn't violate our rights without cause and due process.

[palinrevolution]

09:44 AM on 03/07/2011

Without the 2nd amendment the constitution is just a piece of paper

[Raw Ron]

01:51 AM on 03/07/2011

I will never understand this obsession white "conservatives" have with guns. They don't live in communities that have lots of violence. Seems really unnecessary.

[molonlabe]

10:09 AM on 03/07/2011

So you're gonna provide us with a citation which shows that out of the 80,000,000 gun owners in the US, that all of them are white conservatives?

Here's a start for you:

pinkpistols.org

[niteklubber]

06:20 PM on 03/07/2011

Indeed. We all know how rare it is for a white conservative to practice homosexuality.

[Hunn40]

10:22 AM on 03/07/2011

Maybe we like to hunt and fish.

its not always about personel protrection.

Why do you have to make this a racial issue.

[theRealAmerica]

10:34 AM on 03/07/2011

Yeap...AKs and 31 shot mags...great for hunting...

[bigmadd]

12:37 AM on 03/07/2011

I nthink women are buying more gun because they fear that the GOP is coming after them,And thet are

[molonlabe]

02:33 PM on 03/07/2011

"It's Bush's fault!(tm) *skritch*, "It's Bush's fault!(tm) *skritch*, "It's Bush's fault!(tm) *skritch*, "It's Bush's fault!(tm) *skritch*, "It's Bush's fault!(tm) *skritch*, .......

Thanks! I was starting to miss that.

[PRR Fan]

04:15 PM on 03/07/2011

You do realize that in invoking protection from government violation of rights, you're actually correct in acknowledging the purpose of the 2nd Amendment, right?

[bigmadd]

09:26 PM on 03/07/2011

just a joke

[mandalay007]

11:44 PM on 03/06/2011

Well, the other female wizard, Cindy Mccain is in the NRA toooo, and she is younger, blah blah-------

[FathomTruePolitics com]

10:56 PM on 03/06/2011

Guns don't kill people.....these fools with guns kill people!

[theRealAmerica]

10:35 AM on 03/07/2011

Well what if they didn't have guns?

[molonlabe]

01:24 PM on 03/07/2011

I suppose they'd find knives or other implements like criminals in the 23 countries ahead of the US have:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita

Even your gun-free utopia, the UK, has a per capita crime rate higher than the US:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita

[Rikyu]

06:25 PM on 03/06/2011

No brains and loaded guns. I'd rather belong to Mensa.

[JimInHouston]

12:15 PM on 03/07/2011

False dichotomy.

[drillsgtmark]

06:09 PM on 03/06/2011

That's nice. Who cares how much membership she brings to the IRA. Do you think the majority of Americans would make a gun purchase because the first thing that comes to mind is Palin? Or even to join the IRA, does the first thing that comes to mind is Palin? I don't think so...

[caseyblab]

07:09 PM on 03/06/2011

Are you thinking she is Irish?

[Colmore]

10:24 PM on 03/06/2011

I doubt that the Irish would want her, too dumb.

[silencedogooder]

07:12 PM on 03/06/2011

is the NRA mis-spelling intentional?

[drillsgtmark]

08:06 PM on 03/06/2011

That is called an oops...

[drillsgtmark]

06:04 PM on 03/06/2011

With an ego as big as her's and being narcissistic, the answer is unequivocally no.

[CelticMajic]

07:51 PM on 03/07/2011

Kerry, do you often suggest killing to be an answer to those you disagree with?