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]

You should have as many layers of protection around you as is reasonable, and your most formidable Personal Protection devices are your eyes. Observe your surroundings.

I'm in agreement. I've had advanced handgun training (and learned that I could use a lot more), and I am actually of the firm belief that far too many handgun owners overestimate their abilities with it in the same way that the woman in the article overestimates her ability to physically deter an attacker. As an instructor, you know that the Art of the Handgun is a martial art in its own right, and requires just as much mental discipline as any traditional martial art to employ to maximum effect.

If the article had taken that nuanced approach instead of the ideological tack it did, I wouldn't have any issue with it.

[Fudd]

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

The author is using a fallacious arguement, implying that gun ownership causes murder by gun. While there may be a relationship between A (gun ownership by women) and B (being a woman killed by a husband/lover with a gun), it doesn't prove A causes B, any more than arbitrarily giving a student an "A" on a test suddenly makes him smarter.

I would argue that women at higher risk of domestic violence obtain guns more often than women who live in a stable home environment. Which makes this statistic meaningless to the author, as she is clearly writing about the use of guns in defending against a stranger.

[tbpiper]

according to a new study by the University of California at Davis

Big clue to the credibility deficit in this article.

[ought-six]

' "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.'

Perhaps the instructor was referring to attackers wearing bulletproof vests, UNIFORMS AND BADGES!

[teeman8r]

as kimberly's neighbor, my sign reads...

"This house protected by an NRA marksmen, my neighbor doesn't like guns."

teeman

[ought-six]

Why even work up a sweat by engaging in hand-to-hand combat, or risk being overpowered by a stronger opponent, when you can easily dispatch your attacker with a well-placed shot? Me, I'll take the shot every time.

[wjcsux]

Check out this B.S.

[Modernman]

Umm.... Why not take self-defense classes AND learn how to shoot a gun? Why limit your options? My mom is 5'3" and 110 pounds- she's not going to fight off a 200 pound attacker. She will, however, nicely ventilate him with the .38 she carries in her purse.

[Modernman]

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

Yes, guns sit around all day, plotting to kill people. Hey, genius, guns are inanimate objects. Without a person involved, they're nothing more than a paperweight. This woman is nuts.

[lavaroise]

We know, we need to be malleable flexible unarmed marshmallows so the world can trample on us (sarcasm)

[from occupied ga]

"This house protected by an NRA marksmen, my neighbor doesn't like guns."

LOL

[an amused spectator]

Like Jennifer Lopez's character in the 2002 movie Enough, in which she learns to fight to protect herself and her daughter against her abusive husband, we had reclaimed our right to feel safe while depending only on our own bodies.

'Later that Wednesday night, I watched the real President give it to the evil Republicans again. I glowed in the knowledge that Josiah Bartlett had outfoxed the "selected president", saving the country AND the children in the nick of time.'

[ko_kyi]

Thanks RI, an amusing post.

I make it a rule when discussing anything of importance: The first person to use a movie to prove a point loses. The other rule is that if you have to use Hitler or Nazi Germany to prove your point, you lose.

[RogueIsland]

The other rule is that if you have to use Hitler or Nazi Germany to prove your point, you lose

What are you, some kind of Nazi? ;-)

[gridlock]

It's called reducto ad Naziim.

[white trash redneck]

I suspect that the writer may have a point, but it's not the one she thinks she is making. Simply owning a gun that you're not familiar with, and shooting it once or twice a year at a bullseye target is not going to be much use to you. Practicing often, competing in practical shooting events, and getting instruction will help a lot.

[fawn796]

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

My husband already owns MANY guns. Why would MY owning a gun make him shoot me? Well anyway, sweetie, you feel safe your way, I'll do it my way.

My way: Full grown male German Shepherd "Mauser" to slow attacker down (while he is being pet), giving me time to retrieve my firearm. As my favorite dog trainer told me, "if an assailant is willing to take on a German Shepherd, you need a gun!"

[votelife]

"according to a new study by the University of California at Davis, women who own handguns are more than twice as likely to be murdered with a firearm by their partners than those who do not."

Statistics like these are meaningless. Women who own handguns likely feel threatened...if those same women DIDN'T buy handguns, they might have been even MORE likely to have been murdered.

[VoiceOfBruck]

That's what I was thinking as I read - just having a gun is not enough to protect onesself, and if a woman thinks it is, then it would be a false sense of security.

The article's author is speaking more from politics and emotion, but there is a grain of truth to it.

An assailant usually strikes first (you can't pre-emptively shoot a suspected mugger) and the element of surprise is on his side. He isn't going to wait while his prey fumbles through her huge, disorganized purse for her 38. However a good swift kick in the clangers might give her a chance to run.

[Fee]

At close range, the attacker wearing a bullet proof vest would be hurting from the busted ribs and bruises if shot by a .38 cal or higher handgun. Not unless he is wearing a Level III with Kevlar/Steel Plate body armor.