'Chicks With Guns' (gag conclusion)

The New York Times ^ | 03/08/2002 | NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

[Pokey78]

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — A generation ago, women here at Mount Holyoke College defied convention by burning bras and moving in with boyfriends. These days, some women here are shocking the campus by embracing something even more dangerous than men — guns.

"One of my guy friends said, 'you're a chick with a gun — I'm scared,' " recalled Elizabeth Abbate, beaming.

The women at Mount Holyoke, who have formed the first collegiate chapter of Second Amendment Sisters, a national women's pro-gun group, reflect the times. Alas, one of the most far-reaching consequences of 9/11 is a surge in gun sales around the country.

So while we don't know whether more Americans will be killed by anthrax, we can be quite confident that plenty of us will be killed by these additional handguns.

The F.B.I. has figures showing that in the six months since the terror attacks it has conducted 455,000 more background checks for gun purchases than in the same period a year earlier. The agency says it has also conducted 130,000 more checks than a year earlier for applications to carry concealed weapons.

The impulse to seek protection through firearms is evident here on the lovely Mount Holyoke campus. Christie Claywood has a typical student's dorm room — piles of books, heaps of clothes, a laptop computer on the floor, bottles of liquor that she very hurriedly explains were for a birthday party — but there's also a stack of paper targets with holes from .22, .38 and even machine gun bullets.

About 50 women at Mount Holyoke have signed up to join the college's chapter of Second Amendment Sisters. It is bizarre to sit on the campus of a liberal all-women's college in Massachusetts talking with students about their yearning for, say, a Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter semiautomatic — but maybe that's just because I'm not used to feminists with guns.

"Shouldn't self-defense and being able to take care of yourself be part of empowerment?" Ms. Claywood asked sweetly.

It turns out that, in addition to Women and Guns magazine, there is a growing number of such women's groups. These include Mother's Arms and Armed Females of America, whose Web site declares: "Those who push for `gun control' are of the same mindset as Palestinian suicide-bombers and the Taliban who kidnap women for rape and sex-slave trade. Both don't like the possibility of armed citizens, in these cases, especially armed WOMEN."

I grew up on a farm where rifles were essential for hunting and for keeping coyotes away from our sheep. I got a .22 rifle at age 12, and my grade school in Yamhill, Ore., emptied of boys each year on the opening day of deer season.

So, as a country hick, I'm comfortable with guns. But there's abundant evidence that having more handguns also means more gun thefts, more armed robbery, more suicide and more murder.

Japan, where I used to live, allows only about 50 people (all leading target shooters) to own handguns, and while criminals do smuggle them in, there were only 28 gun deaths (murders and suicides combined) in 1999, the most recent year for which figures are available. By contrast, the United States had 26,800 gun deaths in 2000.

England has higher rates of assault, vehicle theft and burglary than the United States. But tight controls on handguns mean that England's murder rate is only one-sixth of America's.

Defenders of guns can intelligently argue that, as with fast cars, the pleasures of gun ownership are worth the increased mortality. That is an opinion with which one can agree or disagree. Likewise, it is true that the overwhelming majority of guns will be used responsibly (from the point of view of everyone except hungry coyotes). But it is pointless to try to deny the link between more handguns and increased murder and suicide.

And that is why we should worry about the fallout from 9/11 on gun ownership. Already, since the beginning of September, more than four times as many Americans have fallen to guns as to terrorism, but quietly, one by one, with no one noticing.

Our desire to defend ourselves from terrorism by buying firearms will mean, almost certainly, that thousands more Americans will die in the years ahead from gunfire. It's not terrorism, but it should be terrifying.

[Pokey78]

God bless all the chicks with guns. They are part of what makes America great!

[GeronL]

Second Amendment Sisters

Does the NY TIMES know that SAS is a FReeper group?? It was started right here on this website!!

[PistolPaknMama]

kaboom

[Jen]

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[glc1173@aol.com]

" A generation ago, women here at Mount Holyoke College defied convention by burning bras and moving in with boyfriends. These days, some women here are shocking the campus by embracing something even more dangerous than men — guns." (New York Times)

Reality isn't anything in the politically-correct New York Times editorial department.

Reality is that "feminism" on campus - while seen by NOW's elites who haven't been college students in three decades as being about things like whether the college spends as much on women's sports as on football - is seen by the huge number of today's young college women as the right to not get raped.

And what scares the Left more than anything is that the elites of NOW are - literally - dying out, aging rapidly toward the nursing home and the grave without having convinced their daughters' generation of their leftist agenda.

GUN REVIEWS free from ad-money bias - with emphasis on woman-friendliness of tested guns!

[meadsjn]

It is amazing how liberals can gather enough facts about a subject to fill an article this size, and then immediately draw conclusions which are completely contradicted by the same.

[Dan from Michigan]

So, as a country hick, I'm comfortable with guns. But there's abundant evidence that having more handguns also means more gun thefts, more armed robbery, more suicide and more murder.

Nick, you sure as hell don't have country values. You lost it all when you went to the city. Also, That statement is a baled faced lie, and anyone that looks at the FBI Crime data knows. DC, Chicago, etc vs Livingston County Michigan.

BTW Nick, you are the biggest f'ing problem in this country. That's right, YOU. I'm not talking about the media. ASSuming you don't have a problem with rifles, you think us damn handgunners are the problem. "If they didn't fight for handguns, dem politicians won't be able our rifles..." If we don't stand together, we hang seperately.

I can respect a die hard ASD'er(although they are the enemy) that says flat out that he wants a ban. There is no question where Dianne Feinstein, Major Owens, Joe Biden, and John Lewis stand. They want a ban. They said so. Josh Sugarmann. Same thing.

I however have extreme distain and no respect for the biggest problem of all. These arrogant jerks like Nick that say they support guns, but not these types. They are arrogant and ignorant. They are the cause, and are SOLELY TO BLAME for ALL The anti self defense legislation out there.

Unlike you Nick, I give a damn about your guns, even if you don't care about mine.

[Eugene Tackleberry]

...targets with holes from .22, .38 and even machine gun bullets

Can't have a NY Times article about guns without throwing in a gratuitous comment about MACHINE GUNS!!! How can one distingish between a non-machine gun bullet hole and a machine gun bullet hole?

[Dan from Michigan]

Nick - I am also a country hick that moved to the city, but I don't forget where I come from.

[El Gato]

we can be quite confident that plenty of us will be killed by these additional handguns.

Too these people, one death is as good as another as a lever to take away arms rights. (TRY to take away I should say!). It never occurs to them that most of those killed by these "Chicks with guns" will be rapists, muggers, physically abusive boyfriends and husbands. Just the thought of "Chicks with guns" will cool the jets of most of that sort of low life scum, making actually killing them unneccessary.

Of course these are the same folks who predicted and continue to predict that each state that passes a shall issue concealed handgun license system will turn into dodge city with blood running down the street. (In a way they are right, Dodge City was a good place to get some sleep :) ) And each time nothing of the sort has happened, and as we all know, instead crime has gone down.

As is often written: If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson and spoons made Rosie O fat.

[Eugene Tackleberry]

But there's abundant evidence that having more handguns also means more gun thefts, more armed robbery, more suicide and more murder.

DEAD WRONG. Someone should send this "reporter" a copy of Lott's book.

[GeronL]

Are you an SAS member??

[bloodmeridian]

But it is pointless to try to deny the link between more handguns and increased murder and suicide

But it is pointless to try to deny the link between pompous New York Times writers and the amount of moss behind their ears.

[upchuck]

Japan, where I used to live, allows only about 50 people (all leading target shooters) to own handguns, and while criminals do smuggle them in, there were only 28 gun deaths (murders and suicides combined) in 1999, the most recent year for which figures are available. By contrast, the United States had 26,800 gun deaths in 2000.

Pardon me, Ms., but could you express those figures in some measure that makes sense, like gun deaths per 1000 people maybe?

And I guess you realize your statement just reinforces what we've known for years... "When you ban guns, only criminals will have guns."

[He Rides A White Horse]

Shouldn't self-defense and being able to take care of yourself be part of empowerment?" Ms. Claywood asked sweetly.

Okay, so rapist, murderers, and NOW type liberals don't like women with guns.

Okay, got it.

[luvzhottea]

Poor NY TIMES it's anti-gun agenda is stalled...
2nd Amendment Rights:
Attacks on American Muslims Reaffirm Wisdom of 2nd Amendment

Gun Owners of America

Women Against Gun Control

The Firearms Coalition NEAL KNOX

[Jen]

no

[Standing Wolf]

People who keep and bear arms in defense against criminals, tyrants, and terrorist savages are safer than those who refuse to accept responsibility for themselves. Is it any wonder leftists the world over seek to disarm the common people?

[El Gato]

How can one distingish between a non-machine gun bullet hole and a machine gun bullet hole?

The vertical "stringing" of the holes across the target? At least that what tended to happen when I fired an M-2 carbine. Practice and proper technique will reduce but not eliminate the effect. Oh and firing that M-2 was a blast. Pun intended.