The Woman at the Front: Amie Krueger

August 25, 2023

Blog

2 Min Read

By Jodi Stemler

Amie Krueger worked in the front of her company’s building—her beautiful smiling face was the first that people would see when they came into the office. She was also the first person to arrive and would be alone at the office, sometimes for several hours.

“I needed to be at work by 4 or 5 am and I didn’t like being by myself,” says Amie. “About five years ago, I decided I needed to get educated on how I could equalize a situation if something happened.” Her boss was very supportive and encouraged her and the other women she worked with to get their concealed carry permits.

“The problem was, I didn’t know I needed to know how to shoot before I could get it,” she jokes. “I had never even fired a gun!”

Amie's first move was to find a qualified instructor who could help her. “It was very important for me to get trained by a woman because she would think of things and have pointers for women that a man might not have.”

She located Tina Baxter Maldonado with P3 Defense & Firearm Training near her home in Austin, Texas, and went with a co-worker to her first lesson. She was nervous, but they spent three hours that day just learning how to fire a gun.

“That first lesson was pretty scary. It was a public outdoor range, and it was very busy and loud. We didn’t know to wear foam ear plugs under our muffs, so we kept jumping every time other shots were fired,” she remembers. “By that second day, Tina did a refresher and I started feeling much more comfortable and started having fun. It was so good to learn how to handle a gun safely and know that I was on the path to protecting myself and my family.”

Amie and her friend completed their concealed carry tests and received their permits. That day, she bought her first firearm and while she felt safer in the office, she was still nervous about actually carrying. But this year was different.

“It wasn’t one thing in particular, but I kept seeing the escalating violence and how unsettled things have become. I live in a ‘safe area’ but criminals are coming to these places. I think people have just gotten a lot more desperate since COVID.”

Amie decided that this would be the year that she got comfortable with carrying her gun all the time.

“Ironically it was Facebook that recommended the ROSE Community to me,” she remembers. “I joined right away—almost when it started—and it has been so amazing to see it grow.”

For Amie, the ROSE Community has been a tremendous resource and a great way to connect with other women of similar interests. “This is a very diverse group of women, but we have a common interest. There are very experienced instructors who are so informed and helpful along with women like me who are newer to firearms and concealed carry. But everyone is so supportive.”

From the beginning, she has been an active member of the Community and is usually one of the first to cheer on a new gun owner or pass on advice that she has picked up along the way.

“I’m definitely not the most experienced, but I’m more than happy to share something that I’ve learned and the things that work for me.”

It was Amie's active engagement and positive attitude that stood out to the SIG staff when they invited her to participate in the first ROSE Retreat in Nashville—and the event was life-changing for her.

“I am so afraid of being alone—it’s one of my biggest fears. I experienced trauma as a child and have been anxious and fearful much of my adult life,” Amie admits. “But this year I told myself I needed to put myself out there and meet like-minded women I could connect with who were also learning to protect themselves. That’s what the ROSE Retreat did for me. I realized I don’t have to be alone, that there was this amazing group of women out there who may seem so different, but we can all be there for each other on this journey.”

Amie says the ROSE Retreat reinforced how much she wants to learn about safe firearms handling, and how much more she still has to learn.“I want to educate myself and the ROSE Community has opened the opportunity to meet and make friends with other women who want to protect themselves and support their constitutional rights,” she concludes. “When I stumbled on ROSE, something was answered for me.”

Amie is no longer the woman who can’t protect herself at the front of the office. Her firearms journey is just beginning, but ROSE and her new community of friends are making the path much brighter.