At first glance, the latest Firearms Statistics make sobering reading. But look past the headline decline, and a different story emerges, one of women steadily strengthening their place in the shooting community.
The headline numbers
Total combined firearm and/or shotgun certificate holders fell to 470,785 in March 2026, down more than 100,000 over the past decade. Female certificate holders also declined, to 30,808, a dip of just under 1,000 from 2025 and 5,000 from the 2020 peak.
Firearm certificates alone told a slightly more resilient story: down just 3% year-on-year to 4,977. The 50–64 age bracket saw the steepest contraction, but the 35–49 bracket bucked the trend entirely, edging up to 1,277.
The real story is in the proportions
Here’s where it gets interesting. Even as overall numbers contract, women are becoming a larger share of the shooting community than ever before.
Female certificate holders now make up 6.54% of all firearm and/or shotgun certificate holders, the highest proportion on record, up from 5.5% in 2016. Looking at firearm certificates alone, women reached 3.55% of all holders, another new high.
What this means
The shooting sport is shrinking overall — but women are shrinking more slowly, and in some segments, growing. That’s not a footnote. It’s a decade-long trend of women carving out a bigger, more permanent place in a sport that’s historically been male-dominated. Every year the industry keeps records, that share goes up.
