At the young age of 18, Regis Giles decided that she had enough of seeing headlines about women who were abducted, raped and murdered so she began to motivate women to take the initiative and learn to defend themselves. She started Girls Just Wanna Have Guns and the website quickly exploded. Although the website received a warm welcome, as Giles began to post articles and YouTube videos, she experienced the dark side of the anti-gun movement. She received numerous threats in response to her support for guns, but she continued preaching her message saying that the comments just proved “that we do need to protect ourselves because there are nut jobs out there like you out there that could cause me harm.”
As her organization gained more recognition, Giles began to be a louder voice in Second Amendment rights, and was interviewed by major news outlets. She experienced first-hand the media’s depth of attachment to their anti-gun narrative and the lengths they will go to push it. She mused that “I think overall with the media, they are shocked when they see me, being a young female who wants to learn to shoot.” Although surprise is easy to deal with, Giles is often met with resistance by the media, even to the extent of silencing her.
After the Orlando shootings, she was being interviewed by BBC with two other pro-gun control activists who made false claims about gun owners. Having the facts to dispute their claims, Giles attempted to speak but “my mic was silenced and I was livid… they wouldn’t let me talk or make a statement and then my interview was over at that point.”
However, Giles doesn’t plan to stop speaking and informing others about the rights outlined in our Second Amendment. Her father, a radio talk show host and author taught her to be “rowdy and rebellious,” fighting for what she believes in. “Gun owners don’t have the media on our side and we have to share our stories, we have to show that yes, concealed carrying can save lives, stop mass shootings, protect women, protect families and protect everyone’s life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
Although her first love is hunting, Giles has trained in martial arts for over 15 years and she wholly recognizes that women are the weaker sex. However, she often reminds women that “A firearm is the great equalizer. All the muscle power any man has is completely diminished once a woman pulls out a firearm and points the muzzle at her attacker. She has the ultimate power at that point.” Giles calls for women to be prepared for any threat they may encounter and refuse to be a victim.
The two biggest threats are easy for Giles to identify. “Politicians and the media constantly brain wash the masses so much that the phrase ‘shall not be infringed’ is getting diluted and confused.” She fights back against this with her articles that remind readers of the true meaning of the amendment. Besides the anti-gun people, “gun control is the greatest threat because it is really infringing on our second amendment rights. It is really going against what the Founding Fathers wanted for the American people and giving the government more power.” These obstacles only fuel Giles passion for informing people about firearms.