Posted on 10/27/2002 10:33:10 AM PST by vannrox
A Deadly MythWomen, Handguns, and Self-DefenseIntroduction 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 handgunless than one out of every 10 women. But of these women, nearly 85 percent owned their handguns for self-defensea 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 The answer, as revealed by unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, is hardly ever.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:
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]
Black - 67%
Other - 0%
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.
Black - 75%
Other - 0%
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%
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 riskin 1998, a woman was 101 times more likely to be murdered with a handgun than to use a handgun to justifiably kill an attackeris one she is willing to accept.
All contents © 2001 Violence Policy Center
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Really, it is so easy for them to ignore the millions of women who have avoided attack and rape by merely brandishing a firearm or wounding an assailant.
I personally know 2 local women who avoided attack by merely brandishing.
Sadly, I've met several women at ranges and training who have gotten firearms after the fact. They won't be victims again.
They also assume that if there were no handguns, that abusive husbands and boyfriends wouldn't just bash their heads in with a hammer.
To make sense, they should be comparing the number of women who kill in self defense with their own handgun with the number of women who are killed with their own handgun while trying to defend themselves. The control group should strictly be those women who own handguns, in order to determine whether the use of them has been successful or unsuccessful in their own protection. Throwing ALL women in there, including those who have own firearms at all, simply because a gun was involved regardless of whose gun it was, completely creates an apples to oranges situation.
Totally misleading. The question is, as you already stated, how effective are handguns in the defense of women WHO ACTUALLY OWN THEM.
This statistic has always puzzled me. They present the number as if it should be shocking, and as if new legislation should be enacted to make the number less shocking. But what would this legislation be? If 83 women are killed for each one that kills in self defense, surely the first number should be smaller. Given that murders will continue to happen no matter what the laws are, the easiest way to do that is to encourage more women to kill in self-defense. And the way to do that is to get more women armed and trained in self-defense - so that more shootings happen and more of them are fatal. This appears to be what the VPC is trying to endorse - and now you know why they are the Violence Policy Center. Not the non-violence policy center, mind you. They are centered on a policy of violence.
Why not? The American press completely ignores this factor too.
The violence policy center completely disgusts me. This piece is meant to appear like a learned study, but it operates from a purposefully false premise...that only when a woman KILLS HER ASSAILANT is her use of a handgun an effective deterent.
My Mom has carried a .25 Mauser in her purse for more than 50 years now (She's 79). Never fired in anger, well, except for that black snake that scared the cra.., er, daylights out of her on the camp toilet back in 1959.
The black snake escaped unharmed, but was surely deterred from ever bothering my Mom ever again.
..and yes, we've tried to convince her to upgrade many times through the years, but she's really attached to her little Mauser and wouldn't think of trading it in. My Dad has quit carrying his double action Army Colt .45 revolver under his jacket and changed to a 9mm in a Colt Commander stainless frame as a concession to his advanced years.
The only thing that this article proves is that not nearly enough women are carrying handguns to protect themselves! Second Amendment Sisters, where are you???
The most amusing thing about this article is that these folks believe that because they've tacked a few footnotes onto its end, we will all slavishly come to believe that it is "scholarly" and, therefore, of course, true...
(Your response) How about a much more useful question, how many times are handguns used to scare off a would be attacker?
Your question does, of course, reflect the most important issue of deterrence. Their stated assumption - killing is the objective.
Another point to add is what armed women should focus on when facing an attacker. The objective is to stop the attack and survive unharmed, as opposed to killing. It's well to keep in mind "I shot to stop, not to kill."
Shows you what the VPC thinks about women, eh?
Martial arts are great -- yet in many instances, women are still at a disadvantage due to a man's size or superior upper body strength. The knowledge of how to effectively use a gun should be something every well-informed woman possesses.
The longer we, as a culture, hold up feminization as a goal, the closer we get to losing our freedom.
FP
I'd argue that it shows just how much the VPC understands about women. Scare tactics work. Women (in general) make decisions based on emotion.
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