Posted on 10/13/2001 2:31:38 PM PDT by Mercuria
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - The police department here armed 50 women this week and Chief Tom Long gave them this frank advice:
"It's better to be judged by 12 than carried by six."
The advice was heartfelt and in the spirit of the class.
"We're not trying to tell anyone to violate the law," Long said. "But we have to stress that personal safety should be everyone's primary goal."
The class, devoted to handguns, drew an overflow crowd. Capt. Phil Cox said about 100 women were turned away because there wasn't enough room.
At the session, Long and Cox explained different types of handguns, showed how to load them and demonstrated how to shoot them, including a lesson on recoil.
Recoil is the kickback of a gun after it's fired. Long told the students to lock their wrists and elbows to direct the recoil through their arms to their bodies. Controlling recoil is particularly important in self-defense shooting, Long said, because one shot is usually not enough.
"A one-shot stop with a handgun just usually doesn't happen," he said.
Linda Henderson, 62, said she knows a little about guns, but wants to conquer her fear. "I've been shown several times how to use them, but I'm still scared of them," she said. "I think I'll get more out of this class than my husband and my son showing me."
Betty Bigelow, 57, was accompanied by her daughter, Kelley, 21. "We thought it would be good to know how to defend ourselves," Betty said. "We drive back and forth to Memphis a lot."
Kelley Bigelow said she wants to learn how to use a gun so she'll feel comfortable having one.
"There's this overconfidence in just having a gun," she said. "You feel safe having it, but if you don't know how to use it, you can get hurt."
And even though knowing how to use a gun is a good defense, Long said there's a better one.
"The first thing, the best thing, is don't put yourself in a situation where you need a gun," Long said.
(Contact Jennifer Biggs of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., at http://www.gomemphis.com.)
A group of women overcoming the fear of self-protection that has been drummed into them by the politically correct, the fraud feminists, and tyrannical despots within our own government now are TRULY empowered to send a message to the criminal rapists, thieves, and thugs of Southaven, Mississippi.
I pray that many other communities in our nation will get the message! Go, ladies, go!
"It's better to be judged by 12 than carried by six."
Testify!
God bless this man!
With proper ammunition, even a .32 can stop someone with one shot more than half the time. So I wouldn't agree that a one-shot stop "usually" doesn't happen.
On the other hand, even if your ammo has a one-stop percentage of 75%, you still have to be ready to deal with that other 25%.
Men as well as women need to "think" about their actions and not put themselves in a situation that very easily could get out of hand.
There are certain areas I won't go at night. Even in the daylight I make a concious decision about where I am going to go and how I'll transit from my car to the buildings.
My first wife used to love to go out late with the girls. Save your breath, we were having problems at the time. Every time I tried to warn her about being out late alone, she would tell me I didn't know what I was talking about. Ladies, you live in a different world than we do. I'm sorry, but thems the facts.
After all these years, an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure.
There are a few, including in Michigan, but they tend to be from small towns.
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