Gun Lobby Urged to Use Women as Advocates : Weapons: Speakers at policy conference say females can be effective representatives for the pro-firearms movement.

The cover photograph of the gun magazine includes all the things one would associate with such a periodical: a smiling gun enthusiast in a flak jacket, kneeling next to a pooch and holding a trusty rifle in a woodsy setting.

Only the gun owner in this picture is a woman, and she graces the cover of Women and Guns, a magazine devoted to firearms and females.

It was on display at the 1992 Gun Rights Policy Conference, held this weekend at the Airport Hyatt Hotel, and it illustrated one of the major themes of the gathering: that the pro-gun lobby must change its image and focus--and that women must be in the forefront of such a shift.

While the conference featured forums on the firearms industry, legislation affecting gun control and law enforcement policy, some of the most well-received speakers were women who argued that they represent the future of the movement.

The media have readily latched onto the combination of women and guns, said Women and Guns executive editor Sonny Jones.

“It’s a curiosity and fascination people have for the unusual, the juxtaposition of women with the most powerful symbol of masculinity,” she said.

But Jones challenged male colleagues in the pro-gun movement to make better use of women as leaders and speakers for the cause. She noted that although much progress has been made, women are still subjected to derogatory remarks and ridicule in gun clubs and at shooting ranges.

Tanya K. Metaksa, a member of the board of the National Rifle Assn., said in an interview that the number of female gun owners is increasing at a rapid clip as more women remain single and feel vulnerable to urban crime.

According to the NRA, of the 65 million gun owners in the United States, 15 million are women, nearly twice as many as a decade ago.

Metaksa discounted as myth the idea that women, as nurturers, are more repelled by guns than are men.

“It is a misconception that women are anti-gun,” she said. “I am a mother and a grandmother and nurturing is important to me, but so is the instinct for self-preservation and protecting my kids.”

Although women were much in evidence as speakers at the two-day conference, scheduled to conclude today, most of the 200 gun enthusiasts in attendance were men. The conference was sponsored by about 20 groups, including the Second Amendment Foundation.

Several speakers invoked images of menacing, armed mobs of looters descending on innocent people during the spring riots in Los Angeles and after Hurricane Andrew in Florida; they argued that citizens must be allowed to own and use guns to defend themselves.

The Rev. Anthony Winfield, a chaplain at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, N.Y., said there is a “definite pro self-defense slant” in the Bible.

“I try to turn people to Christ, but I’m also a realist too,” Winfield said. “Criminals are always going to have access to guns and the law-abiding are going to be the victims, unless they are allowed to bear arms.”