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

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

[vannrox]

A Deadly Myth

Women, Handguns, and Self-Defense

Introduction

In the late 1980s, the gun industry began targeting women to counter slumping handgun sales among its primary market of white males. The false message delivered by gunmakers was clear: the greatest threat posed to a woman was an attack by a stranger and, the best form of protection a woman could rely upon was a handgun.¹

Much to the disappointment and consternation of the gun industry, these efforts for the most part have failed. A 1995 study by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) conducted by Tom Smith and Robert J. Smith found that handgun ownership among women was, and remains, uncommon. This study found any fluctuations in the percentage of women who owned handguns to be statistically insignificant (see Chart One below).²

The 1996 study Guns in America found that only 6.6 percent of adult American women owned a handgun—less than one out of every 10 women. But of these women, nearly 85 percent owned their handguns for self-defense—a figure that offers gunmakers continual hope in their marketing endeavors.³ Yet how often are handguns actually used by women to kill in self-defense? The answer, as revealed by unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, is hardly ever. 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.⁴

For all of the promises made on behalf of the self-defense handgun, using a handgun to kill in self-defense is a rare event.⁵ Looking at both men and women, over the past 20 years, on average only two percent of the homicides committed with handguns in the United States were deemed justifiable or self-defense homicides by civilians.⁶ To put it in perspective, more people are struck by lightning each year than use handguns to kill in self-defense.⁷

This study presents data from the FBI and consists of three different analyses concerning women, handguns, and self-defense. It compares incidents of:

• women using a handgun to kill in self-defense to women murdered with a handgun;
  
  
• women using a handgun to kill an intimate acquaintance in self-defense to women murdered by an intimate acquaintance with a handgun; and,
  
  
• women using a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense to women murdered with a handgun.

In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 101 women were murdered with a handgun.

Despite the promises of gun-industry advertising, a woman is far more likely to be the victim of a handgun homicide than to use a handgun in a justifiable homicide. In 1998, handguns were used to murder 1,209 women.⁸ That same year, 12 women used handguns to kill in self-defense.

When a woman did use a handgun to kill in self-defense, it was usually against someone she knew, not against a stranger. Of the 12 handgun self-defense killings by women reported to the FBI in 1998, eight involved attackers known to the woman, while only four involved strangers.

All the attackers that the women justifiably killed were males, as were an overwhelming number of offenders in female handgun homicides. For the majority of both justifiable and criminal homicides, both the shooter and the victim were of the same race. [See Table One]

TABLE ONE	Women who used a handgun to kill in self-defense	Attackers killed by a woman with a handgun in self-defense	Women murdered with a handgun	Those who murdered a woman with a handgun
Number of people	12	12	1,209	at least 1,1109
Average age	31.9	31.2	34.5	36.2
Race (where known)	White - 33% Black - 67% Other - 0%	White - 42%

Black - 58%

Other - 0%

White - 55%

Black - 42%

Other - 3%

White - 53%

Black - 45%

Other - 1%

Gender

.

Male - 100%

Female - 0%

.

Male - 96%

Female - 4%

Percent of incidents that were intra-racial¹⁰

75%

92%

In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill an intimate acquaintance in self-defense, 83 woman were murdered by an intimate acquaintance with a handgun.

It is often intimate acquaintances and family members who endanger a woman's life.¹¹ Yet women who own a handgun for self-defense usually do so to protect themselves from strangers. Many women who use handguns to kill in self-defense use the weapon against someone they know, or someone with whom they have, or have had, a romantic relationship.

Recognizing that most people are killed by someone they know, it is not surprising that the majority of justifiable homicides involve victims and attackers known to each other. Of the 12 justifiable homicides by women using a handgun that were reported to the FBI in 1998, eight involved an attacker known to the woman. Of these eight offenders, six were intimate acquaintances (three boyfriends, three husbands), one was a friend, and one was an acquaintance.

When there is a deadly encounter between a woman and her intimate acquaintance, and a handgun is involved, the most common scenario involves a woman being shot and killed by her intimate acquaintance. Of the 872 women murdered with a handgun whose relationship could be determined, 57 percent (497 of 872) were intimate acquaintances of the offender.¹² Of these, more than half (260 of 497) were wives of the offenders. [See Table Two]

TABLE TWO	Women who killed an intimate acquaintance with a handgun in self-defense	Women murdered by an intimate acquaintance with a handgun
Number of People	6	497
Relationships	3 were Girlfriends

3 were Wives

260 were Wives

180 were Girlfriends

31 were Common-Law Wives

26 were Ex-Wives

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

Women who purchase handguns for self-protection are most likely planning to protect themselves and their families from strangers. Yet, women rarely use handguns to kill strangers in self-defense. In fact, compared to the frequency with which a woman uses a handgun to kill a stranger, the number of times that a handgun is used to murder a woman is staggering.

Table Three lists, by state, the number of women who used a handgun to kill a stranger or an intimate acquaintance in self-defense, as well as the number of women murdered with a handgun in 1998. Of the 47 states that submitted data to the FBI that year, only eight reported any justifiable homicides by women involving a handgun: California, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Of these, only California, Georgia, and North Carolina reported women who justifiably killed a stranger in self-defense, while California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas reported women who justifiably killed an intimate acquaintance in self-defense.

Table Three
State	Number of Women Who Used a Handgun			Number of Women Murdered with a Handgun
	to Kill a Stranger in Self-Defense	to Kill an Intimate Acquaintance in Self-Defense	to Kill a Friend or Acquaintance in Self-Defense
Alabama	0	0	0	37
Alaska	0	0	0	4
Arizona	0	0	0	42
Arkansas	0	0	0	20
California	2	1	0	178
Colorado	0	1	0	21
Connecticut	0	0	0	10
Delaware	0	0	0	2
Florida13	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Georgia	1	0	0	46
Hawaii	0	0	0	1
Idaho	0	0	0	5
Illinois	0	0	0	49
Indiana	0	0	0	51
Iowa	0	0	0	8
Kansas	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kentucky	0	0	0	8
Louisiana	0	0	0	48
Maine	0	0	0	5
Maryland	0	0	0	28
Massachusetts	0	0	0	3
Michigan	0	0	1	41
Minnesota	0	0	0	6
Mississippi	0	0	0	15
Missouri	0	0	0	28
Montana	0	0	0	2
Nebraska	0	0	0	2
Nevada	0	0	0	16
New Hampshire	0	0	0	1
New Jersey	0	0	0	18
New Mexico	0	0	0	3
New York	0	0	0	45
North Carolina	1	0	0	59
North Dakota	0	0	0	0
Ohio	0	0	0	35
Oklahoma	0	1	0	20
Oregon	0	0	0	17
Pennsylvania	0	0	0	53
Rhode Island	0	0	0	0
South Carolina	0	0	0	39
South Dakota	0	0	0	1
Tennessee	0	2	0	34
Texas	0	1	1	124
Utah	0	0	0	8
Vermont	0	0	0	1
Virginia	0	0	0	34
Washington	0	0	0	27
West Virginia	0	0	0	9
Wisconsin	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wyoming	0	0	0	5
Total	4	6	2	1,209

Table Four offers a more detailed analysis of the 1998 incidents involving women who used a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense versus female handgun homicides. The female victims murdered with a handgun, as well as women who killed a stranger in self-defense, tended to be disproportionately black. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1998 12.1 percent of the U.S. population was black.¹⁴ However, 42 percent of women murdered with a handgun and 75 percent of women who killed a stranger in self-defense with a handgun were black. Additionally, all the intruders that the women justifiably killed and an overwhelming number of the offenders in female handgun homicides were male. Finally, for both criminal and justifiable homicides, the majority of victims and offenders were of the same race.

TABLE FOUR	Women who used a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense	Strangers killed by a woman with a handgun in self-defense	Women murdered with a handgun	Offenders who murdered a woman with a handgun
Number of people	4	4	1,209	at least 1,11015
Average age	32.0	24.0	34.5	36.2
Race (where known)	White - 25% Black - 75% Other - 0%	White - 25%

Black - 75%

Other - 0%

White - 55%

Black - 42%

Other - 3%

White - 53%

Black - 45%

Other - 1%

Gender

.

Male - 100%

Female - 0%

.

Male - 96%

Female - 4%

Percent of incidents that were intra-racial16

50%

92%

Conclusion

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.

 

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1. One example is an ad for Thunder Ranch, Inc., which provides "State of the art Firearms and Tactical training." The ad shows a woman dressed in a tight-fitting turtleneck and jeans, with a handgun holstered to her belt. The caption reads, "I go to Thunder Ranch. I refuse to be food for anybody!" (Women and Guns, May-June 1999, 55). An ad for Hidden Holster™ shows a woman asleep in her bed, dressed in a lacy negligee. Attached to her mattress is a handgun in a holster. The headline states, "Hidden Holster™ Keeps Your Handgun Ready!" while the text reads, "When in bed how accessible is your handgun? Do you know exactly where it is? Can you reach it without making a sudden move that could alert an intruder?" (Women and Guns, March-April 1998, 5). An ad for handgun manufacturer Beretta shows a pistol which fits "in the palm of your hand." The handgun is held in a woman's hand with manicured red fingernails and a delicate gold bracelet. (Women and Guns, March-April 1999, 33). An ad for New England Firearms shows a small, five-shot handgun—the "NEF® LADY ULTRA™ 32 H&R MAGNUM: The Sensible Choice for Personal Protection." The text reads, "Violent crime against women is on the rise—so you deserve the ability to protect yourself and your family. Increasingly, women are choosing firearms for personal defense; we hope you'll never need to use one, but you know you can't take chances, either." (Women and Guns, February 1997, 9).
   
   
2. Data from Tom W. Smith and Robert J. Smith, "Changes in Firearms Ownership Among Women, 1980-1994," The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 86, no.1 (1995): 133-149. The article did not provide data for the missing years. Additional data, 1996 to 1998, from phone conversation with Tom W. Smith, September 20, 2000. Statistical analysis applies only to years 1980 to 1994.
   
   
3. Philip J. Cook et al., Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use (Washington, D.C.: Police Foundation, 1996), 33, 38.
   
   
4. A 1986 New England Journal of Medicine study entitled "Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home" found that for every time a firearm was used in a self-defense homicide, 37 lives were lost in gun suicides, 4.6 lives were lost in gun homicides, and 1.3 lives were lost via unintentional gun deaths. More specifically, handguns were used in 70.5 percent of the deaths. A 1998 Journal of Trauma study entitled "Injuries and Death Due to Firearms in the Home" looked at both fatal and non-fatal repercussions of having a firearm in the home and found that, for every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.
   
   
5. Although the SHR offers no information on non-lethal self-defense firearm use, the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) does. What is most striking about the information contained in the survey is how rarely firearms are used for self-defense. The April 1994 Justice Department study Guns and Crime revealed that according to the NCVS only about one percent (62,200) of all victims of violence claimed to have used a firearm of any type (handgun, rifle, or shotgun) to defend themselves. Another 20,300 reported using a firearm to defend their property during a theft, household burglary, or motor vehicle theft. (It should be noted however, that all self-defense uses were defined by the survey respondent, and would therefore include all perceived threats as well as legitimate threats.) Also, in these instances it is not known whether the gun was used successfully to stop the crime. In comparison, the study reported, offenders armed with handguns alone committed a record 931,000 violent crimes in 1992. Michael R. Rand, "Handgun Victimization, Firearm Self-Defense, and Firearm Theft: Guns and Crime," Crime Data Brief (Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, April 1994).
   
   
6. FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data, 1978-1998. In 1998,there were 191 civilian justifiable homicides in the United States according to the FBI SHR. Of these, 145 involved a handgun. Of these handgun justifiable homicides, 12 were committed by women, 121 were committed by men, and 12 were committed by people whose gender was not reported.
   
   
7. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, justifiable homicide is defined as: "The killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen."
   
   
8. 1998 is the most recent year available for FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data.
   
   
9. Number is unknown because many women were murdered by an unknown number of offender(s). Additionally, some women were murdered by more than one offender. The minimum number is 1,110 offenders.
   
   
10. Numbers in this category are based on single victim/single offender incidents only.
    
    
11. Intimate acquaintance is defined as a spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, or homosexual lover.
    
    
12. Information regarding relationship of victim to offender was not available for the 99 women who were not listed as the first victim in a homicide (i.e., they were listed as the second or third victim in a homicide incident with multiple victims). Additionally, the relationship was categorized as unknown for 238 of the female victims who were the only or first victim in a homicide.
    
    
13. Information for the states of Florida, Kansas, and Wisconsin is not listed because they did not contribute their data to the FBI Supplementary Homicide Report in 1998.
    
    
14. "Resident Population Estimates of the United States by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: April 1, 1990 to November 1, 1999," (U.S. Census Bureau) downloaded April 4, 2000, from www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfile3-1.txt; INTERNET.
    
    
15. Number is unknown because many women were murdered by an unknown number of offender(s). Additionally, some women were murdered by more than one offender. The minimum number is 1,110 offenders.
    
    
16. Numbers in this category are based on single victim/single offender incidents only.

 

 

All contents © 2001 Violence Policy Center

 

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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.

[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.