'Teens on Target': Firearms, Self-Defense Class for Teen Girls

Snowshoe Gun Club in Kenai, Alaska is once again hosting the Teens on Target program for teenage girls.

According to the Peninsula Clarion, the class teaches firearm safety, handling and use, as well as self-defense techniques. This year’s class has been running since September, but the program started in 2008.

Elaina Spraker, co-founder of the program along with her husband Ted, said the inspiration for Teens on Target came from a conversation she and Ted had about their son, now 24, who liked going to the woods and shooting guns with friends. Elaina asked her son if his girlfriend, who sometimes went on the shooting trips, enjoyed shooting guns as well.

Her son said the girls in the group usually didn’t take part in the shooting.

“That’s when the wheels started turning,” Elaina said.

As the Clarion reports, Elaina and Ted applied for grants from Friends of the National Rifle Association and teamed with the Kenai Safari Club International to teach firearm classes for women and girls. The class takes place at the Snowshoe Gun Club shooting range and includes six volunteer instructors.

The Teens on Target course includes trigger technique, accuracy practice, and shooting from multiple positions. It starts with shotgun trap-shooting, then rifles and handguns, and finally finishes with shooting an AR-50 rifle.

Kenai police officers also offer personal defense sessions as part of the Teens on Target class.

“The true value of this program is female empowerment,” Elaina said. “You take an adolescent girl, and something very positive happens when they learn the power of firearms.”