A Deadly Myth: Women, Handguns, and Self-Defense (Violence Policy Center BS)

violence policy center ^

[RC one]

So, I'm looking for a good self defense pistol for my girlfriend (input would be appreciated) and I come across this VPC statement regarding women, handguns, and violence. I found it to be an incredibly useless bit of information that clearly illustrates the warped "logic" and the contorted supporting statistics used by the anti-gunners to push their agenda onto Americans. In one paragraph they state that "to the chagrin of the gun makers, less than 1 out of 10 women owns a gun for self defense" and in a following paragraph, they state that "In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 101 women were murdered with a handgun" and "In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense, 302 woman were murdered with a handgun" and they then go on to use this as an argument for why women shouldn't buy a handgun for self defense, because "statistics" show that they are more likely to be murdered by a handgun than use a handgun for self defense. Well it seems pretty obvious to me that those statistics would reverse themselves if more women owned handguns for self defense. It also seems to me that these anti-gunners, by twisting the truth around their agenda, are literally sacrificing the lives of innocent women in order to disarm this country and that is just disgusting. So, please excuse my rant and FUVPC. any freepers have any thoughts on a good handgun for self defense for a woman. .357 hurts her hands too much and I'm afraid a complicated semi-auto wouldn't suit her. I also think a Glock is out of the question due to the lack of an actual safety switch.

[tgusa]

Try a Beretta PX4 subcompact 9mm

[RC one]

that does look a good option.

[pingman]

A S&W J-Frame .357 with Pachmyer grips is quite pain free, and very effective. The stock grips don’t soften the heavy loads. Or, there’s always a .38 snubby.

[RC one]

yeah, she shot two rounds out of my model 340 M&P in .357 and said no thanks. That thing hurts my hands. .38s would be an option though.

[Puppage]

My wife is petite...5-0, 100lbs.Most polymer frame guns hurt her hand.So, when Sig came out with a metal frame .380 she tried it & fell in love with it. The Sig P238 is a great gun. Check it out for yourself.

You'll get a lot of great advice here, but the best advice is to have your girl try the gun first.

[Puppage]

Women were murdered with handguns more than 1,200 times in 1998 alone. As these numbers reveal, handguns don't offer protection for women, but instead guarantee peril.

So, these lying a-holes want you to believe that they were murdered with their OWN gun, hmmm?

[occamrzr06]

I may be killed by my gun, but you will have to beat me to death with it, because it is going to be empty. ——Clint Smith

[absolootezer0]

got any more current statistics?

[momtothree]

I can only speak as a female. One, I commend you for wanting to teach your girlfriend how to shoot. Second, bring her to a range and let her try out different guns. She will find one that feels comfortable to her. Her first gun selection provides her the opportunity to practice with the gun and get use to it. Even a snub nose .38 (which you may laugh at) may feel more comfortable to her than one you may like. Third, practice, practice, practice. Not sure if this helps at all but that is my two cents!

[RC one]

That looks acceptable but the more I look at the beretta PX4 storm, the more I lean towards it. It has adjustable backstraps for a more custom hand fit and a lower rail for a laser or flashlight. plus its single/double action with deckcoker and manual safety- and all for less than 600 bucks. Cant say much bad about either Beretta or Sig when it comes to semi-autos either.

[LevinFan]

That’s what they want your to think. The fact that’s they didn’t specificly connect the two statistics make it clear that’s the number of women murdered have nothing to do with whether they had a gun or not. Quite likely they know that many died for lack of a gun. They also ignore how often simply drawing a gun can nip trouble in the bud without having to kill.

[deoetdoctrinae]

In 1998, handguns were used to murder 1,209 women. That same year, 12 women used handguns to kill in self-defense.

It would be asking too much for the VPC to say "Of the 1209 murdered women, XXX (number) owned a handgun. I don't know the answer, but it is probably close to ZIP. If those 1209 women had each owned a gun, I'm betting a lot of them would be alive today. Of course none of this occurs (or matters) to the morons at VPC.

[RC one]

no, I just came across that site and it irked me plus I wanted to post a vanity about a handgun for my girlfriend so two ideas merged. I truly despise the VPC. They would have been the first group to start providing statistics about US gun dealers arming the cartels and getting innocent people killed and so on so forth. probably bought and paid for by George Soros.

[ProfoundBabe]

As a female pistol instructor, I second your comment.

[arthurus]

Not one argument seems to follow logically from another. This author is the prince of Non Sequitur.

[G Larry]

S&W Model 10 or 64.
Both .38 Specials

Simple, reliable, fits their hands, smooth trigger.

Easy to get follow-up shots back on target.

Semi-autos require significantly more range and practice time.

[susannah59]

That’s what they want your to think. The fact that’s they didn’t specificly connect the two statistics make it clear that’s the number of women murdered have nothing to do with whether they had a gun or not. Quite likely they know that many died for lack of a gun. They also ignore how often simply drawing a gun can nip trouble in the bud without having to kill.

You make an excellent point. They appear to have twisted both logic and statistics to "prove" a point.

For example, they talk about women buying guns as protection from strangers, yet many are killed by people they know. While some of us may well be concerned about strangers- say, for example, a businesswoman who travels alone extensively- I do know and have known women who purchased a firearm for protection from people they did know, too well, such as ex-husbands and boyfriends. Self-protection is self-protection, regardless of whether or not you know your attacker.

More, as LevinFan points out, some or many of the women who died might not have done so had they been armed. As LevinFan also points out, the deterrent value of being armed does not necessarily depend on killing someone. A shot may not need to be fired at all to deter an attack.

It would also be interesting to see more recent statistics, as I'd bet that the numbers of female gun owners has changed since 1998.

To the original poster: momofthree gave excellent advice. Let your girlfriend try out a variety of firearms until she finds something that she really likes, that feels good in her hands and that she is not afraid of. I favor a Glock myself, so let her give a smaller Glock a try as well. If she is not comfortable with whatever she gets, she will not be willing to practice with it, and she has to practice for it to be any use to her.

[Joe Brower]

This thread has just added to the FreeRepublic "bang list" (firearms interest list) by adding the keyword "banglist".

Any time a firearms-related thread is created on FreeRepublic, please be sure to add the "banglist" keyword to it so that interested FReepers don't miss it. Just a suggestion.

Let Freedom Ring,

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[deoetdoctrinae]

Just a thought, but IF this is going to be her carry gun, and IF she decides to go with a revolver, you might want to encourage going with something with a concealed hammer. One less thing to snag when pulling from purse or pocket in a high stress situation.

Just my two ¢s worth.