Guns offer false security

USA Today ^ | 6/10/2003 | Kimberly Shearer Palmer

[RogueIsland]

Before I held a revolver, I thought only police officers and psychopaths shot guns. Guns seemed uncontrollable objects that could inflict death at any moment; I preferred to avoid them.

Then I learned how to shoot. My friends arranged a trip to a shooting range outside Chicago. Our instructor, a former police officer, taught us how to stand and point, hunching our shoulders for accuracy. We shot at the target silhouettes' heart and lungs before aiming for its head. In real life, our instructor explained, our attackers might wear bulletproof vests.

[RogueIsland]

So much inanity, so little time.

After taking self-defense courses with simulated attacks at The Empower Program Inc., a Washington non-profit, my younger sister and I felt more confident walking down the street. We were aware that at any time, anywhere, we knew how to fight back.

Yeah, that sense of confidence and empowerment will last long enough to get you in big trouble when you go up against a 250 pound street brawler. Sorry, but I'll go with Sam Colt's "great equalizer" myself.

[RogueIsland]

bang

[goldstategop]

More liberal touchy feeley gestalt in dealing with scum. Any woman who takes this garbage passed off as advice seriously should check herself immediately into the nearest mental asylum.

[Jonx6]

I'm just suprised this is under editorials/opinions and not did not run as a "news" article.

[quack]

"Guns can be taken away, and women can be killed by their own guns."

Well,that doesn't make sense.How can a corpse take away your gun?

Like Jennifer Lopez's character in the 2002 movie Enough,

Sorry.We don't live in Movieland.I saw that movie and Jennifer Lopez would be dead if that fight had happened in real life.

[goldstategop]

LOL! Liberals think a movie IS real life.

[Destructor]

"We shot at the target silhouettes' heart and lungs before aiming for its head. In real life, our instructor explained, our attackers might wear bulletproof vests."

Yeah,right. Your average street thug will be wearing a bulletproff vest! I can't believe an instructor would teach this to a class.

[NittanyLion]

women who own handguns are more than twice as likely to be murdered with a firearm by their partners than those who do not.

I can see why she chose not to use the raw date; perhaps the numbers in question are .0000001% vs. .0000002%. But that wouldn't have the impact of twice as many.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Check out this load of crap.

[RogueIsland]

Any woman who takes this garbage passed off as advice seriously should check herself immediately into the nearest mental asylum.

She's just as likely to get checked into the nearest morgue. The advice in this article is not just touch-feely, it's actually dangerous. If someone thinks a few hours of simulated martial arts is going to allow someone to fend off a violent street criminal, they probably also think those magic fat burning pills on TV actually work.

Learning self defense is a good thing. But one needs a realistic idea of what it can actually do. A few practice spars at the YWCA does not a street brawler make.

[SW6906]

"After taking self-defense courses with simulated attacks at The Empower Program Inc., a Washington non-profit, my younger sister and I felt more confident walking down the street. We were aware that at any time, anywhere, we knew how to fight back."

So, after saying that guns make you dangerously over-confident, she goes on to say that she has more confidence having taken a self-defense course.

Trained gun ownership over-confidence is bad, but a few hours of unarmed "self-defense" training over-confidence is good?

[goldstategop]

Yup and if you're a woman or a scrawny man, try taking your chances with a well muscled guy. You probably WILL get checked into the morgue. That's where having a gun and knowing how and when to use it, can make a difference. By ending up saving your own life.

[Lee'sGhost]

"Guns can be taken away, and women can be killed by their own guns."

Well,that doesn't make sense. How can a corpse take away your gun?

Not only that, but catch the false reasoning. You would think that the same, newly acquired, self defense skills that give her so much confidence would also keep the bad guy from taking her weapon away -- but somehow, in lib world, the self defense stuff only works if you're not carrying a weapon. Go figure.

[Lee'sGhost]

"LOL! Liberals think a movie IS real life."

Brave Heart isn't real? :-(

[goldstategop]

The liberal mentality holds guns ipso facto are eevil. That's why this woman prefers unarmed self defense training so she can feel morally superior to the beer belly redneck crowd. Excuse the cliches, but that's how these folks think. When one raises the issue of guns with them, the first thing to desert them is rationality.

[FourPeas]

Guns seemed uncontrollable objects that could inflict death at any moment; I preferred to avoid them.

Anyone who can make this completely idiotic statement is obviously so ruled by their emotions and what they see on Oprah that anything they say is immediately suspect. BTW, why is it that these liberal whiners always seem to have three names?

[from occupied ga]

"Having a gun gives women a false sense of security," says Naomi Seligman, communications director of the Violence Policy Center, a Washington non-profit that urges stricter gun control. "Guns can be taken away, and women can be killed by their own guns."

Would this Naomi Seligman be the former Naomi Piss whose moronic uttererances on behalf of her insane boss, Sara Brady, gave much unintended humor to the pro gun world? I tell you what, Naomi you moronic sh!t. I'm an old f@rt. Come in person to take my gun away to show that it can be done.

Considering guns as women's only shot at self-defense is like eating fat-free cookies to ward off obesity; they can make the situation even worse. Instead of buying a gun, I'm sticking to basic street smarts that will always be there when I need them most.

Kimberly Shearer Palmer is a graduate student at the University of Chicago

Hey Kimberly baby, can I have your address to sell to someone who specializes in home invasion robberies? I'm sure you have the strength of your convictions and have the sign posted on your lawn that says

GUN FREE HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE DON'T HURT ME

[petuniasevan]

What a loony. First, she thinks that a gun is unsafe because "he might get it away from you". I'll take that chance; the bullet I fire is just as deadly as the one a man fires.

The ninny even thinks that a Hollywood movie (Attention libs! Movies are NOT REAL!) is a guide for women's self-defense. Ha. I guarantee you that there is a BIG difference between the controlled atmosphere of your local judo or karate club, and a raging maniac (bigger than the woman 95% of the time, stronger 99.9% of the time) bent on assaulting or killing the woman. Most women will react with disbelief and panic to a real blow - that is, if they are still conscious afterward.

Don't forget; a LOT of tough guys, cons, pimps, and assorted dregs are familiar with martial arts.

Give me a gun over those so-called self-defense courses.

[mewzilla]

Maybe she should talk to the gentleman in Brooklyn who saved his family from that intruder with the 14-page rap sheet by shooting the perp. The fellow DA Hynes just persecuted...er, prosecuted.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Typical of touchy-feely lieberal non-thought, she learned 'how' to shoot but not what and to shoot. She went to 'school', learned what she wanted and 'graduated'. Now she airs her ignorance.