By Genie Jennings,
Contributing Editor

Six-year-old Nancy came home from school very troubled. "Daddy, why do you sell guns? They kill people don't they?" Earlier that day her first grade teacher had asked the class what their fathers did for a living. Like many children of entrepreneurs, she was very familiar with her father's trade. She knew he was well liked and respected by both his customers and his competitors. She was proud of her daddy, and lastingly disturbed by the disapproval she had seen on her teacher's face when Nancy answered, "He has a gunshop."

Her father "explained in terms a six-year-old could understand, that if one person owns a gun, the rest of us need to own guns, too. I've been running with that simple bit of logic ever since," she says today.

Jack First was a hero not only to his family, but also to the entire country. He had been one of the Marines who landed on Iwo Jima during World War II. When he returned from the war, he pursued his American Dream, and in 1954 he opened the Jack First Gunshop in Lancaster, California.

Jack was a gunsmith and did repairs as well as selling guns and ammunition. He quickly understood that when one person needed something fixed, sooner or later another person would need the same repair. Therefore, whenever he required a specific part he would order more than one. The extras went into stock.

It was not long before other gunsmiths in southern California realized that Jack had such a good supply of parts that there was a good chance he already had what they needed. Although the parts might be a bit more expensive, they were immediately available. Rather than ordering from the factory, which could mean a wait of six to eight weeks, they began ordering their parts from Jack. The parts business kept expanding, as did the building to house the inventory of parts, guns and ammunition. Eventually, Jack First Gunshop was one of the two largest parts dealers in the United States.

All was not easy, however. Nancy's first grade teacher was not the only one who disapproved of the gun business. Throughout the country there were expanding encroachments on the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Those in the gun industry were focused upon as a means to curtail the procurement of those arms. Their state was, and continues to be, in the forefront of that movement. In addition it also was guilty of taxation and other practices that severely impacted the business community. In 1994 the family moved to Rapid City, South Dakota to "escape the unfriendly business, tax and anti-gun policies of California."

Nancy had been working on the parts side of the business, where she gained her fame and the name "Queen of Parts." Her customers knew that if she couldn't get it for you, she would have it made.

When she took over the total operation of Jack First Gunshop in 2003, she decided to go with her strength, and eliminated the retail sales of guns and ammunition. "Along with the new factory parts that we carry, the largest part of our inventory is newly-manufactured parts for obsolete guns. We are now the largest gun parts business in the U.S." She employs three full-time machinists, two gunsmiths, and two saleswomen, and continues to work full-time herself. "Between three of us parts girls, we have over 100 years' experience in gun parts."

The business is only one part of her gun involvement. When she moved to South Dakota, she joined a shooting club. As in many such groups, she was the lone woman among many men. She was a welcome addition and the other members sought her advice on how to encourage more women to get involved in the shooting sports.

She thought, "You know, I really don't like shooting with these guys. I don't like sliding on my knees in the dirt and shooting around the corner, and I don't like the competition." In fact "the more I thought about it, the more I realized that women shooting is completely different from men shooting. For the most part, we don't feel the need to compete; just hitting the target makes us really happy. For us it's not a 'macho' thing, and we don't assume we know it all before we start."

Nancy created a "Women Only" shoot. The first one in 1999 was comprised of Nancy, her mother, and her sister. A few weeks later she had six participants. Now, she conducts four each summer, with approximately 40 shooters at each, and estimates she has had around 1500 attendees since she began. These events are also an opportunity to engage women in the political side of gun ownership. She calls them "an introduction to the option of handguns for self-defense."

She began thinking that if our Second Amendment rights are going to be saved, it will be women who save them. Because she had the idea, she felt an obligation to create a union of like-minded women to accomplish that goal.

One evening in 2000 she was driving home when she heard G. Gordon Liddy mention a new group called Second Amendment Sisters. Someone had started exactly the organization she needed to create! She "pulled the vehicle over, called the 800 number and became the South Dakota coordinator." In addition to that position she has served as Treasurer and is on the Board of Directors of SAS.

Inadvertently, Nancy's teacher long ago set the little girl on the path to preserve and protect our Constitution. In high school Nancy "wrote several term papers on the gun issue and participated in debates defending the rights of gunowners." Now, she discusses those issues with legislators and the media.

Women have an advantage when they speak to their congressmen, other officials, and news people. There is an assumption that women will be taking an anti-gun stance. The shock value of a female, especially a soft-spoken, friendly blonde mother of two and (hard to believe) grandmother of six, promoting gun ownership and usage gets positive attention.

Her goals for South Dakota, and the rest of the country by extension, are legalizing concealed carry on campus and eliminating all gun-free zones. Both situations preclude the basic human right of self-defense, the single issue that Nancy's group espouses. We have a right to life; we have a right to defend that life and the lives of those around us; we have a right to the means to do so. If we are denied the means to protect our life, we are denied the right to life.

Jack First Gunshop and the Queen of Parts have been extremely busy since the election of 2008. Possibly more than other segments of the industry, there has been an impact on them because they sell parts. "I think that many people are thinking that they had better get that old gun out of the closet and get it repaired while they still can."