PANAMA CITY — She shoots guns for vacation.
“If you ask me where I’m going on vacation, I’m going to tell you I’m packing my bags to go shooting somewhere,” said Katerina Prozer, 42.
Prozer, the National Rifle Association chief range safety officer, recently started a local chapter of Armed Lady LLC, a nationwide shooting organization for women. The chapter meets at 3:30 p.m. the first Sunday of the month at Jay’s Guns and Accessories IV Shooting Range, 3219 State 390.
Membership is open to women ages 18 and older. No weapons permit or licensure is required to join. Members will complete NRA courses from beginner level to “distinguished expert” — a rating comparable to competitive sharpshooter.
“Because they don’t have a safe place to go to enjoy it and compete,” Prozer said, “they’re (practicing shooting) behind houses and in the woods — and that’s where accidents happen.”
A lack of information often leads to accidents, she noted. One tidbit of information often lost in daily jargon is the use of the term “weapon.” Civilians shouldn’t refer to firearms as weapons, she said.
“We try to teach civilians not to use that word because we are civilians and we should act like civilians,” she said.
Since her early teenage years, under a once Communist regime in her Czechoslovakian homeland, Prozer had been taught about the use of guns and gun safety. However, outside of military, police and sports shooters, no one else was allowed to own a firearm.
“I joined the NRA because it’s a big organization and it’s standing behind our rights,” Prozer said, noting she doesn’t go “much deeper than that.”
“It’s giving me the option to share the proper way to educate people,” she said. “Where you’re handling a firearm, you need to know what to do because if something happens, you can’t take it back.”
Gripping a Kel Tec .380 that holds up to six cartridges — the correct term for the popular “bullet” — Prozer demonstrated the proper shooting stance.
“I let my girls modify because of our bodies,” she said, focusing her eyes on a spot seemingly behind the wall and pointing the gun straight ahead. “We do one leg forward because it easier; then you lean forward so that you can catch the recall.”
She had pulled the small gun out of her pants waistband, a place where the gun went unnoticed until she revealed it for the demonstration.
“For everyday carry, you don’t want to walk around with a big gun,” she said. A small gun for personal protection is “easy to carry, easy to conceal.”
Children’s shooting group
Firearm safety and training is good for children, too, according to Prozer.
That’s why she is training to become a shooting coach, which would allow her to train children to shoot.
The training will work in conjunction with the NRA’s Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, which is designed for children as young as 4 years old.
“When you start with the little kids, you teach them responsibility from the beginning,” Prozer said. “It’s a part of the education.”
She has taught firearm safety at the Boys & Girls Club of Bay County and Girls Inc. As a coach, she will be able to train children ages 10 and older to shoot air rifles.
“Don’t be heroes and try to pick it up,” Prozer said she teaches older children. “Run away; take the younger kids with you and go to someone who is responsible and tell them about it.”
Children are vocal about how they are allowed to touch guns at home, particularly when it comes to target shooting, she said. However, parents are not reminding the children that they should not touch a gun outside of that adult-monitored setting.
“They are going to understand the responsibility” of gun safety, she said of the program for children. “They will be more responsible in their lives growing up because they’ll know all about it.”
Children who participate in shooting will become trained well enough to enter competitions, she said.
“It’s good for the kids and they have fun,” she added.
WANT TO JOIN?
What: Armed Lady LLC, a shooting organization for women
When: First Sunday of the month, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Jay’s Guns and Accessories IV Shooting Range, 3219 State 390
Why: To learn gun safety, how to shoot and earn certification of marksmanship by the National Rifle Association
Details: Call Katrina Prozer, 850-624-9313, or go to armedlady.com.