A Deadly Myth - Women, Handguns, and Self-Defense

The Violence Policy Center ^ | FR Post 10-27-2002 | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.

Why do they HAVE non-Profit Status?
They are an arm of the DNC.

[vannrox]

BARF

[Pyro7480]

Where's the BARF alert?? These people are hopeless...

[Drango]

Was Bellesiles a co-author?

[lelio]

Yet how often are handguns actually used by women to kill in self-defense?
Note that this totally throws out the case in which a rapist grabs a woman, she shows a gun, and he runs off.
Its like saying seat belts only saved a life if your non-belted passenger dies in the accident.

[chudogg]

This is completly false. I feel bad who sucker into this kind of propaganda. Firearms are used 2.5 million times a year in self defense.

[lelio]

Firearms are used 2.5 million times a year in self defense.
Nope, you're wrong according to this article. Unless someone dies in the act then its not counted. Please go back for re-education on this subject.

[glc1173@aol.com]

You don't evaluate the success of burglar alarms by the number of burglars caught. You - and your insurance company, which gives discounts on homeowner's policies if you have a remote-monitored alarm - evaluate the success of burglar alarms in terms of deterrance.

VPC won't address the issue of how many women never have to shoot any attacker - due to the guy running when he sees her with it or hears her yelling "I've got a gun" or her stalker ex knowing that she's got one.

It's like capital punishment. When asked by a journalist whether he still believed that capital punishment deterred murder when Death Row was full of the undeterred, a police chief remarked that those who were deterred weren't conveniently gathered one place for counting!

GUN REVIEWS free from ad-money bias - emphasizing woman-friendliness of tested guns!

[stands2reason]

In the late 1980s, the gun industry began targeting women to counter slumping handgun sales among its primary market of white males.

Nice little racist comment. Now do these idiots have proof that minorities were specifically excluded from marketing campaigns? Somehow, I don't think so.

[maxwell]

Note that this totally throws out the case in which a rapist grabs a woman, she shows a gun, and he runs off.

Yeah-- this "study" is utter dogwaste. What are they pushing, that women shouldn't even try to use guns at all? One can derive NO suggestion about how often a firearm is used by a woman in deterrance-- all the data are about cases with corpses.

Also, I assume their basic message is "it's no use to go out and get a gun, chicks, because you're more likely to get shot anyway." Is there, above, any data on whether or not the women in the "killed by acquaintance" categories were holding weapons or not? If not, what the hell is the significance of citing those stats? Maybe the takehome message is, guys are more likely to shoot chicks than vice versa. Who wrote this report? They should take their sociology degree and go flip burgers somewhere. This is a prime example of shoddy "research"-- a bullsh!t report and a waste of somebody's money. Probably yours and mine.

[maxwell]

When asked by a journalist whether he still believed that capital punishment deterred murder when Death Row was full of the undeterred, a police chief remarked that those who were deterred weren't conveniently gathered one place for counting!

LMAO! That is most excellent...

[Manish Boy]

In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense, 302 woman were murdered with a handgun.

Hmm, that sounds like more women need handguns and self defense training. More on the first side would probably reduce the number on the second.

[Green Knight]

Yep. I love how all these little surveys NEVER count the times someone defends themselves with a gun without firing a shot, nevermind killing the assailant. But if they did, then it wouldn't make a good propaganda piece, now would it? Sort of like how they include people up to the age of 21 and those who died as a result of the gang life in their statistics of child deaths.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Yet how often are handguns actually used by women to kill in self-defense?

How about a much more useful question, how many times are handguns used to scare off a would be attacker?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Same concept used for car alarms. I always wonder if the groups that put out these studies purposely ignore the deterence offered by firearms or are the authors just really dumb?

[GailA]

BARF, BARF...LEAVE MY GUN ALONE!

[inquest]

Before a woman purchases a handgun for protection, she must pause to consider whether the grave risk—in 1998, a woman was 101 times more likely to be murdered with a handgun than to use a handgun to justifiably kill an attacker—is one she is willing to accept.

Talk about jaw-dropping. I mean, I knew these people didn't have much of a leg to stand on, but to just totally advertise their abject dishonesty... I really feel like I'm reading a Soviet propaganda rag or something. Their study didn't even pretend to justify that statement by showing how purchasing a handgun puts a woman at greater risk. It's actually kind of interesting that they were completely unable to give any support to the whole "the attacker might grab your gun from you" scare tactic.

[GailA]

Here is some ammo to counter the gun grabbers.

Parle & Probation

Recidivisim

[Fiddlstix]

[Berthold]

Currently, only a small minority of adult American women own a handgun. Before a woman purchases a handgun for protection, she must pause to consider whether the grave risk—in 1998, a woman was 101 times more likely to be murdered with a handgun than to use a handgun to justifiably kill an attacker—is one she is willing to accept.

...and if this number is so small, is it really statistically significant?

Another thought, if *more* women were armed, would the usage of women's handguns be higher? In other words, are they saying handguns are ineffective because they're rarely used with success (out of the total female population /or/ out of the female population that own guns)?

I think they *really* messed with the wording on this one to make you think handguns are rarely used with success, when in fact, they are only owned by a small segment of this particular population.