For whatever reason, many people tend to assume that the desire for gun ownership is specifically a male pursuit and that women don’t want firearms. Maybe this is because women often tend to have more of a tendency to avoid conflict or maybe it is just anti-gunners projecting their own feelings onto women in general.
Whatever the case, maybe the first thing that people should do when thinking about this subject is to (surprise!) ask a woman. To save everyone the time of doing that, though, Bethany Mandel has already covered the subject for us. Her thoughts on the subject? “Women Need Guns.” Mandel sums up her article by writing,
To most feminists, feminism means eliminating power imbalances between men and women. A physical power imbalance between the sexes will always exist. But guns can level the playing field, potentially saving women’s lives in the process. To many, gun culture in this country evokes images of hunters and sport shooters; it is thought of as almost universally male. But for women such as Schaeffer [who used a gun to protect a co-worker], Kaehler [the co-worker protected by schaeffer], and Angela [a victim of domestic violence], having the right to own a gun is so much more: It is potentially the difference between life and death.
As Mandel notes in her writing, there will always be a physical disparity of strength between men and women, and nothing is going to change that natural difference in strength. So, while the majority of violent crimes are committed by men, women are at greater risk of being victims of that violence due to their naturally lower level of strength. To not see that a gun can make the difference when a woman is trying to protect herself or someone else is willful ignorance on the part of gun control advocates.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: if you want a safer country, then you need more responsible gun owners carrying at all times in this country, not less.