Do Girls Need Guns?

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I found this article on a gun forum and thought it was pretty good. I see the Marie Claire magazines on the grocery store checkstand rack all the time and I've never given them a second thought. I never would have expected a chick magazine to publish something like this.

http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity-lifestyle/articles/living/should-women-own-guns

If self-defense expert Paxton Quigley had her way, every woman would be toting a gun around like the latest It bag or iThing. Why? Handguns are the best way for women to protect themselves from violence and rape, says Quigley, who has taught more than 7,000 women how to pull the trigger. For her new book, Armed & Female: Taking Control, she talked to dozens of female victims of violent crime, many of whom said a gun could have prevented the attack. We met up with the petite, blonde, 55-year-old gun guru in Manhattan to see if her argument is bulletproof. You decide.

Q: What convinced you that women need guns?

A: I came from an antigun family — I'd never touched a gun. But 20 years ago, when I was living in L.A., a friend called me at 2 a.m. "Please come over," she said. "Something horrible has happened." When I got there, a police officer opened the door. He told me, "Your friend has been raped." My friend said she'd heard a window breaking and had called 911 and tried to run. But the rapist overpowered her. Later, at the hospital, I asked her, "If you'd had a gun, could you have stopped the attack?" She said yes. I thought about myself living alone and decided: This is not going to happen to me.

Q: So you went and bought a gun?

A: I made an appointment at a shooting range, then canceled it out of fear. I'd grown up surrounded by the cultural belief that guns are bad; the issue is as heated as abortion. But three weeks later, I went to the range. I hated it — the noise, the recoil of the gun. Back at home, I had a headache and fell into a deep sleep. But when I woke up, I felt excited, strong. I called my friends and they said, "Don't buy a gun — you'll shoot yourself in the foot." So I stopped talking about it, and bought a revolver.

Q: You believe that guns prevent rape. But what if the rapist has a gun, too?

A: Then you better be the first to shoot. You have to know you will shoot. If you don't truly believe you can shoot, then you shouldn't have a gun.

Q: Why not carry a Taser or pepper spray instead?

A: I don't recommend Tasers for women. Unlike a gun, there's a single shot. If you miss, you have to reload. Also, some models are known to have difficulty penetrating thick clothing, such as a leather jacket. As for pepper spray, you have to get very close to the attacker to spray his face. You can't defend yourself from a distance.

Q: A study showed that 70 percent of gun shops posted a rise in female buyers last year. How many women own guns?

A: It's hard to know, since men often buy guns for women. But out of an estimated 200 million guns in the U.S., about 17 million belong to women. Many women live alone; they need protection.

Q: But more than 3,000 children reportedly die from gunfire each year.

A: Many reports include "children" as old as 19, a lot of whom are gang members. There are very few 3-year-olds who are shot. If a toddler picks up a gun, it's unlikely he could pull the trigger.

Q: Rather than arming everyone, why not disarm everyone, and ban guns?

A: Bad guys can get guns. Banning them isn't realistic. With the military out there, millions of guns are around.

Q: Forty states allow people to carry concealed weapons, and a few towns let you carry a gun openly, yes?

A: Yes. I once went to Paulden, Arizona, where you can "open carry." You could go to the market, or gas up, wearing your holster. It felt like the good old Wild West. It was kind of a neat feeling.

Q: There was a jump in gun-buying when President Obama was elected — the so-called Obama bump. Why?

A: Pro-gun folks were scaring a lot of people, claiming Obama would ban guns. People tried to make it political. You can see what both sides try to do. I just think guns can prevent rape — and a lot of women do not ever get over rape.

Everybody should have a gun. I plan on buying one for myself soon when I have the money to spar for protection. Unfortunately my state is one of the few that doesn't allowed concealed carry.

I've been thinking about this for a long time, since I live alone. It's scary though. I'm not sure I could really shoot anyone even if I had to. I'd probably shake so bad I wouldn't be able to get to or pick up the gun, much less fire it properly. Then of course it could be turned against me. The whole thing is scary so I best not think about it and just hope for the best.

First, how about "Columbine", "Virginia Tech", etc? How about people who are insanely bipolar or otherwise a few cogs short of sane? People who use hard drugs?

People like me who would put it to their own head? What an odd experience that is. It's amazing to feel all that power over your life. It's intoxicating just to rub the barrel against your temple. It's sad, I almost smile just thinking about that experience.

Well one, Klebold and Harris bought their guns illegally but I see the argument you are trying to make. You could also argue that if more people had guns that extent of tragedies could of been much less if not completely avoided.

I don't think that every woman "should" necessarily own a gun (or train in martial arts, or carry pepper spray, or whatever), but I do think that every woman should think about it and make an informed decision: 'I do not want to carry a gun because of the risks and complications inherrent in owning and using a gun properly, but I accept that I will be less able to defend myself without one,' or 'I choose to do everything I can to defend myself against attack, up to and including causing severe physical damage to my attacker and risking damage to myself.'

No one apart from people who actually need guns (e.g. policeman) should own them.

You seem to forget that policemen aren't always in the right. Recently some police here got busted for taking a break during a drug bust to play wii on the dealer's TV. If only that was the worst thing I could recall about cops! A few years back they confiscated cocaine and used it to pay for prostitutes.

Yeah well if you are ever driving around in your Rolls Royce and a cop pulls you over and demands you give him all your money or he'll shoot you you're going to wish it wasn't just cops that have guns.

Hell wouldn't even take a cop with those kind of laws. If guns are outlawed worst case scenario criminals can make their own guns. Believe me, machinists can build that sort of s**t pretty easily. I'd be more worried about sourcing ammo but worst case scenario you can always use black powder.

How can you press charges against someone who mugs you who you have no idea who they are? This isn't CSI they can't scan your retina take an image out of it profile the face digitally and search their all inclusive database and find exactly who mugs you. People get away with crimes all the time. If you knew them personally, yeah they might get investigated but that's it. Do you know how many girls I know who have been raped and their rapist didn't get charged with their rape? Did you know my house got broken into and we are 95% sure its the people that lived behind us cause they dropped some s**t in our back yard leaving on foot, cops can't/won't do s**t about it.