BATON ROUGE - On Thursday night at 5:30, it's ladies' night at the shooting range on Choctaw Street.

"It's such a great opportunity for women to come in if they have never shot," instructor Ashley Chin said.

Chin and Rin Batson are the female instructors at the FRC indoor shooting range. They say more women are becoming interested in purchasing guns and learning how to shoot them.

"In the last two years, women have gone from being only 10 to 20 percent of the handgun market to over 50 percent," Chin said.

Because of the uptick, the FRC decided to invest more time and resources into female shooters. Batson says there are many reasons for the increase.

"A lot of them will start carrying because it's like, 'I can protect my family now'," Batson said.

With crime continuing to rise in Baton Rouge, Batson and Chin say now more than ever, women need to learn how to defend themselves.

"Your life is valuable, and you need to be prepared to be your own first responder. With police calls sometimes being high, it's important that we can protect ourselves," Chin said.

As for women in Baton Rouge who may want to learn, here's hat Chin and Batson have to say: "Try it. Come on a Thursday night. We're here. Everybody here is amazing and friendly, and there's no stupid questions."