A woman who was raped 3 times as a teenager has been teaching her 7 children to shoot high-powered guns so they don’t grow up with a ‘victim mentality’.
Anna Taylor and her whole family practice the usage of the latest ammunition in a gun range set up on her rural Kansas property.
The 35-year-old has been teaching the usage of guns to all her children including her youngest 5-year-old daughter Savanna. However, Savanna is just practicing with unloaded guns so far.
The favorite gun of Addi, 7, is a rifle while Dylan, 8, likes the pistol. The oldest of the 7 children, Samie, is just 16.
Anna said she wants her family to be ‘situationally aware’ and fully trained in marksmanship.
‘I know that evil exists and I certainly don’t live in fear. But it is a reality, and I am the first line of defense for my children and my family,’ she said.
‘I’ve heard it said ‘I carry a gun because a cop’s too big to fit in my purse.’ Well that’s so true.’
Anna, who is also a firearm entrepreneur famous for her concealed carry corsets, said she wasn’t worried about her children being exposed to ammunition since teaching them to shoot would keep them safe around firearms in dangerous situations.
‘I’ve carried since some of the kids were little,’ she said.
‘My second-youngest, she was still nursing and I would carry my gun around my waist so since they’ve been little they’ve been up against a firearm or seen it, or felt it, or known that it was there.’
According to Anna, teaching the children how to shoot was a ‘tremendous responsibility’ of parents for keeping them safe in today’s world.
‘If you neglect to teach them safety and respect. and teach them bad habits then that’s 100 per cent on you,’ she said.
‘So from day one I have taught them and taught them how it works.
‘Removing the mystery, teaching them how it works, as well as respect for life, and that a gun can be dangerous if misused is what I teach them.’
Anna’s strong desire to keep her children safe stemmed from her early life when she was raped by 3 different men between the ages of 13 and 18.
‘Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, I was very quiet and closed off. It’s the quiet, reserved and unsure girls that are targeted by predators.
‘What I realized, with the knowledge I have now, it was the victim mentality that I had.’
Anna also used to feel extremely vulnerable when she moved to a rough part of Kansas City with her two children in her 20s and witnessed the death of a neighbor.
‘One day, just down the block from us, three guys kicked in the front door and shot and killed the homeowner,’ she said.
‘I remember going on walks with the kids through the neighborhood when they were rolling up the bloody carpet to tear out of that house. It was such a vulnerable place to be.
‘I thought that if somebody was to bust down my door and intrude at night, I would be very defenseless against them. So I really wanted to get my concealed carry permit.’
Anna finally decided to buy her first gun when she was expecting her fourth child. It was just the start of an incredible journey for Anna leading her to become an NRA certified instructor and a USCCA training counselor.
Anna now owns an impressive variety of high-powered guns including a Desert Eagle fully plated with 24-karat gold.
‘I have a Glock 19 and an extra 31 round Glock Magazine,’ she said.
‘I have a Walther CCP, all 9 millimeters. I have a North-American Arms mini revolver, and a Sig Sauer P238, which is a micro 380. I’ve got guns in all kinds of colors.’
Anna’s entrepreneurial journey started when she failed to find a workable concealed carry solution for her weapons and ultimately resorted to creating her own postpartum wrap by sewing mouse pads.
Her makeshift design was so convenient that she decided to start her own company, Dene Adams, in 2013.
Her business excels in producing concealed carry corsets for women allowing them to carry up to 4 guns and a knife at any time.
When asked about the current gun problems in the US, she said she saw the personal responsibility to be the major factor in the on-going debate.
‘The U.S. has a personal responsibility problem. The U.S. has a parenting problem. I don’t even know how many guns there are in America, but I know it’s a lot,’ she said.
‘When someone does not have personal responsibility or care for the life of others, it doesn’t matter what tool they get their hands on.
‘If someone has ill intent and they don’t have respect for human life, they will find a way to cause harm to others. Definitely not a gun problem.’