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Do Girls Need Guns?

J.Gleason

Banned
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Chilton, Wisconsin, USA
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/just-dreaming/article.aspx?cp-documentid=25767843&GT1=32023

A controversial new book says every woman in America should own a gun.

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.
 
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M

McX

Guest
an armed female puts me at ease. I won't have to intervene on a situation on her behalf, she can take care of the matter on her own accord.
example; we routinely walk customers out to their cars, particularly girls, when visited recently by an female open carrier i felt odd, and did note, i didn't have to walk her to her car.
 

TyGuy

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Mar 19, 2010
Messages
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I'll say that I feel much better that my wife has a firearm at home now. She always had access to my Glock 19, but she didn't feel 100% comfortable shooting it. She now has her own Walther P22, and while it's only a 22lr, she feels comfortable shooting it. I hope that down the line she'll get more comfortable with the size of the Glock 19 as well as the recoil and will be able to use that if she needed to, but a 22 is better than nothing.

This reminds me of a short humorous story....a friend of my father in law, who takes up fly fishing for Salmon, went to see the movie Enough. It was the one with Jennifer Lopez where she leaves her abusive boyfriend (maybe husband) but he comes after her. She eventually takes martial arts, and when he comes the next time she beats his butt. Well, my father in law's friend is watching the movie when everyone in the theater starts chanting "kick his a$$, kick his a$$". He looks around and notices that he's the only guy in the theater....so he decided the safest thing to do was to also chant "kick his a$$, kick his a$$". LOL An empowered woman is a good thing.
 

Hunting Mama

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Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
92
Location
Not deep enough in the Woods, Wisconsin, USA
I need a gun. I unfortunately have a few health issues which makes it pretty much impossible for me to "run away". So if I want to be able to defend myself and my family I must have my gun. Now while I don't open carry in public yet, I plan to in the future, while at home (where I am most of the time) I am armed, plus I have myself a pair of German Shep's. My hubby always jokes that someone would have to be really stupid to try something around our place. If they make it through the dogs they have to make it through the lead on the backside. Odds won't be in their favor!

FYI - I live in the country so no one would hear me scream if I didn't have a means of self-defense. So I chose to educate myself and prepare.
 

TyGuy

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Mar 19, 2010
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I need a gun. I unfortunately have a few health issues which makes it pretty much impossible for me to "run away". So if I want to be able to defend myself and my family I must have my gun. Now while I don't open carry in public yet, I plan to in the future, while at home (where I am most of the time) I am armed, plus I have myself a pair of German Shep's. My hubby always jokes that someone would have to be really stupid to try something around our place. If they make it through the dogs they have to make it through the lead on the backside. Odds won't be in their favor!

FYI - I live in the country so no one would hear me scream if I didn't have a means of self-defense. So I chose to educate myself and prepare.

Reminds me of C K Morley. Unfortunately most criminals will try to pick on "easy" prey, those with health problems that don't move so well.
 

professor gun

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Jun 8, 2008
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In the women's pistol courses that I run I have heard all of the concerns and sentiments expressed by Paxton Quigley in her interview. Every class there are one or two women who approach me after our range day is done to tell me how worried/scared/upset they were at the prospect of handling a handgun. Some seriously think about not showing up at range day, one told me she skipped breakfast because she was nauseous with fear.

Every one of them told me (1) they came anyway because they were more afraid of being victimized by criminals and really felt the need to be armed, and (2) they ended up thoroughly enjoying shooting and had a great time.

I also conduct empty hand self defense classes for women and it is great to see the changes in their attitudes when they learn some basic skills that are effective on larger, stronger attackers; particularly when one of the 115 lb females manage to throw me or one of my large teenage sons to the ground.
 

ckmorley

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Aug 31, 2010
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suring wisconsin
Reminds me of C K Morley. Unfortunately most criminals will try to pick on "easy" prey, those with health problems that don't move so well.

Women, the elderly and the disabled are at increased risk of victimization because "we" are at a distinct physical disadvantage when attacked. Most muggers, rapists, etc. are healthy, strong, young males (or groups).


ckmorley
 

TyGuy

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+1 CK.

If only there were a tool that could equalize the disparity of force for you....oh wait, there is! Carry on!
 

professor gun

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Women, the elderly and the disabled are at increased risk of victimization because "we" are at a distinct physical disadvantage when attacked. Most muggers, rapists, etc. are healthy, strong, young males (or groups).


ckmorley

Very true. That is why those groups in particular need an equalizer.
 

Shell

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Apr 11, 2010
Messages
31
Location
Wisconsin, ,
Yep girls need guns. I've read the old first edition of "Armed and Female", where Paxton Quigley was not pro-OC at all, so it's nice to see that she's keen on the idea now. It's amazing how many women I know who are avid feminists but are completely anti-gun. That just doesn't make sense to me. How can someone be a supporter of women's rights but not support allowing a woman to defend herself against rape/violent crimes? So I make shooting dates with my women friends so that we keep up on our shooting skills, and I disspell the various anti-gun arguments that I hear in conversations. And I'm going to make sure that my daughter knows how to defend herself. She's only 3 years old now, but I let her come with me to the range and stand behind the glass behind me (with someone there keeping an eye on her too), and she sees me shoot. She sees that shooting is not just restricted to the good ole' men, unlike what I was raised to believe. I'm looking forward to teaching her more about guns when she gets older and understands more, and it will be an awesome day when we are both shooting at the range :)

I saw an article a few days ago about the uncontrolled rape rate in some african country, and I just thought to myself "if only these women were armed, I'm sure this number would be much less..." It's really sad.
 

anmut

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Jan 1, 2010
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875
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Stevens Point WI, ,
Thanks for making me aware of this book - I'm buying a copy for my pro gun wife to read and then I'll mail it to my ultra lib sister after that (hopefully to be read and not burned.)
 

HolyOrangeJuice

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2010
Messages
221
Location
AZ
The answer is a simple yes they do need guns. How many women are raped or murdered? My grandmother was held at gunpoint when she use to live in Las Vegas when she was younger and she got lucky. The "bad guy" wanted her to get into his car and she made it dang clear that he can take everything she has but she will NOT get into that car. Luckily he took her purse and left but it could have been worse and a guy with a gun against an unarmed woman doesn't usually end this way.
 

hardballer

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
925
Location
West Coast of Wisconsin
I need a gun. I unfortunately have a few health issues which makes it pretty much impossible for me to "run away". So if I want to be able to defend myself and my family I must have my gun. Now while I don't open carry in public yet, I plan to in the future, while at home (where I am most of the time) I am armed, plus I have myself a pair of German Shep's. My hubby always jokes that someone would have to be really stupid to try something around our place. If they make it through the dogs they have to make it through the lead on the backside. Odds won't be in their favor!

FYI - I live in the country so no one would hear me scream if I didn't have a means of self-defense. So I chose to educate myself and prepare.


Good for you. We have two dogs, Shepard/Wolf and 3 cats. The dogs are fairly affable till they get that somethin' ain't right. The cats have claws. One of them has teeth like razors. My wife is very ill but still has a small 'nine' with her most of the time. I'd say the same thing about someone breaking in. They'd better be a lot more worried about her than the dogs. The dogs might let them go. She wouldn't. They'll be doin' jail time if they don't have to many holes in 'em.

Hardballer out.
 
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