Like many women, Andrea Ema was raised in a family that considered guns off limits to girls. Her father shot skeet and hunted, but Ema did not learn to shoot until she was an adult."I was 47," said Ema, of Geneva. "It was the time in my life when I could finally do something just for me."Ema took a course sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, joined the St. Charles Sportsmen's Club in Elburn and made skeet shooting her sport of choice. "Now, it's my zen, my therapy, my chance to live for the moment," she said.Ema is not alone, according to the National Rifle Association. Through programs sponsored by the NRA and other groups, more women are learning to shoot, the NRA says.

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