Better be careful with how you answer that, because you might just be asking for more competition than you can handle, guys. History has proven that women can hold their own when it comes to firearms and beat even the toughest competition – men or women.

When you hear the name Annie Oakley, certainly you imagine scenes of the old west back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. You’ve seen the photos of Annie with her rifle, dressed in a long flowing dress and a smile on her face. She was quite the sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Her talents gave her the title of first American female superstar acting in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. It’s been told that Annie could with her .22 caliber rifle split a playing card 90 feet up and split it card edge on plus putting 5 or 6 more holes in the card before hitting the ground.

Then there were the other female shooting heroes of the Old West! Calamity Jane who was a sharp shooter and also a performer in Buffalo Bills show. It’s been told she liked her alcohol — wonder if that’s where the name came from? And then there was Belle Starr who liked to hang out with the desperados back then. Could she have been the originator of “Good girls have no fun”? She reportedly had several marriages and a bad temper. (I wonder which came first.) Importantly, though—she could shoot!

Now to bring us up to date with some of the modern gals that are the best of the best. Kim Rhode is our American hero. Four-time Olympian 1996, 2004 gold medalist,2000 bronze medalist,2008 silver medalist. Kim got her competitive start in American skeet, winning the championship at age 13 then becoming captain of the All American team at 14.

Our own Midwest gal Haley Dunn from Eddyville, Iowa started shotgunning competitively at age 12. When she was 14, she entered the Iowa State Sporting Cays Championship and won the Gold Medal. Haley was the youngest lady champion in the event’s history. From there she went on to claim the Iowa state championship three more times. Lucky for the University of Missouri, where Haley graduated with a degree in Agricultural Business Management in 2007, she was active with the Mizzou Shooting Team. There she won the Gold Medal and HOA Ladies Championship at the ACUI Intercollegiate Clay Target National Championships. Haley recently claimed her first Gold medal of 2010 at the shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy, taking her first step toward the 2012 Olympic Games. Impressively, she is ranked #1 in the USA, and is making her second appearance on the 2010 World Cup circuit. She smashed 73 out of 75 targets, and entered the Final with a one target lead over the rest of the field. Missing only one target in the Final, Dunn ended the day hitting 97 out of 100.

We will keep an eye out for great shooting achievements from all women who do “shoot like girls” and are proud of it.