I just finished this design as a request and can’t resist the opportunity to show it off… Something about girls with guns is very popular. I sell a LOT of police officer and hunter designs. The Sharpshooter design is now available in the Girls Can’t WHAT? Gift Shop.
And this post just wouldn’t be complete without a quote from the most famous female sharpshooter of them all:
“Aim at a high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you’ll hit the bull’s-eye of success.” ~ Annie Oakley
Girls Can’t WHAT? Sharpshooter Gifts!
[zstore contributorhandle=”girlscantwhat” productlineid=”196543289175629705″ showpagination=”false” showhowmany=”9″ defaultsort=”popularity” showsorting=”false”]
5 comments
amy
This design ROCKS.
I think it’s the perfect cross promotional item I’ve been loooking for. Keep up the great work.
AM
gretchen
Jacobus – I am well versed in Annie’s history as I am a distant relative. ;) In fact, I just visited the Buffalo Bill museum in Cody, Wyoming on vacation where they have a special section dedicated to her. The collection includes letters between her and Frank and some of her outfits. It was very cool to see. You will see a lot of references to Annie on this site as well as a lot of her quotes showing up in the speech bubble in the page header. If I could go back in time and meet anyone, Annie would be first on my list. She was a rockstar in her time and has been dubbed the first “American superstar”. b-) Thanks for the links. I’ll be checking out that pdf soon.
Jacobus
I hope you like this, because once I start researching something I tend to obsess. May I share a couple (?) more items about Annie gleaned from several sources?
>Annie Oakley’s story bears NO resemblance to the Hollywooden “Annie Get Your Gun” script. She was a huntress and marksperson in her teens, and was asked to meet and match-shoot against a well-known marksman named Frank Butler at 21. The peite (slim, 5′ tall) young lady was so superior at the craft that Frank (who admitted that he was shooting his best that day)was WAY impressed by her skills and her character. Okay, she was pretty too. He hadn’t read the Hollywood version, so he courted and married her and played a mostly supporting role for her, utterly devoted to her. (He died of a broken heart less than three weeks after she died at 66).
> Annie was probably the biggest audience “draw” of the Wild West Show and at least once saved it from financial collapse with her own funds. She and Frank supported a number of benevolent and “equality” causes including providing for the education of at least 19 young women.
> During WW1, she taught marksmanship to US Army recruits.
> She was enormously tough and determined. For a time after a horrific train wreck that injured her back and took a long time to heal, Frank would throw skeet for her while she lay on the ground on her back and took down 6 targets at a time using 3 double barreled shotguns in quick succession. After she healed better, she returned to more precision stuff, continuing to do tournament style shooting publicly into her sixties – and very well.
May I leave a link or two? If not, feel free to edit this out:
http://creativefolk.com/oakley.html has a PDF article with some good info including the political reason Hollywood falsified Annie’s history.
http://www.annieoakleyfoundation.org/
And the Wikipedia article. For starters. (There’s lots, lots more.)
Okay, I’ll hush now.
Jacobus
gretchen
Jacobus – thanks for the info! That’s very interesting. :)
Jacobus
A “sharpshooter” would most often use a rifle… there are a few pics of Annie Oakley with pistols, many with rifles and a few shotguns.
I grew up in the country and have fired various guns, large, small, pistols and long guns. My city-raised Ex can outshoot me any day. She’s a lefty, farsighted and very accurate. Fortunately we get along well when we’re not living together. ;^)
A coworker of mine dates a world-class narc in a central American country who’s also an excellent shot. Due to her job, she depends more on pistols though. Not especially big, but strong, I’ve seen news photos of her wrestling a suspect to the ground. Her boyfriend is an American biker. He both loves and fears her. And he’s proud of her.
A couple of years ago I read a male sniper’s book, I think it was “Sniper in the Arizona” referring to a section of Vietnam called that in the military. The opposing Viet Cong sniper who came nearest to killing him was a woman.