The United Kingdom and Australia instituted gun bans in 1997. Between 1995 and 2006, women in the United Kingdom suffered a 76.5% increase in rape; by 2007 Australian women experienced a 29.9% increase. Meanwhile, rape decreased 19.1% in America.*
Today, women are raped twice as often in the UK as America, and Australian women are raped three times as often. This is damning evidence that gun control may place women at greater risk. American women are hearing this message, and more and more are arming themselves every day, not only to protect themselves and their families from harm, but to ensure our government doesn’t enact laws which disenfranchise women.
Comments
We held our second Women on Target event Sunday, with 30 women ranging in age from 24 to 87. I guess most of them didn't get the message that women tend to be nervous around guns prefer limiting their initial experience to .22 caliber firearms. While we started out with .22s, most of them quickly shifted their attention to AR15s, .357magnums and 1911s. All of them had great big grins on their faces by the time we were done for the day.
Great article Howard! Check out www.NRAblog.com for additional reports on Women On Target clinics, and submit your club's story for publication to GOblog@nrahq.org.
Thanks,
Danielle
www.NRAblog.com
It's a start, of course. Unfortunately, few of these women will ever be introduced to any actual training in self defense. Sport shooting has very little in common with self defense except a gun - and most sport shooting guns are not even suited for self defense use.
Ladies, get comfortable with guns and shooting. Then find some real self defense training and practice what you learn. Become aware of your surroundings at all times. Learn to avoid behaviors and attitudes that tell criminals you are a helpless victim. Learn how to defend your home and children, using all of the tools at your disposal.
It could save your life, and that of those you love.
Mama: Props for promoting more training. However, stating that "few of these women will ever be introduced to any actual training..." is a negative and perhaps self-fulfilling prophecy. A few data points should be noted before drawing such conclusions. Most of the WOT trainings I have run result in a lot of interest in what we call Women's Basic Pistol, which is where they shoot 'real' guns, enabling them to continue on to defensive handgun, tactical, and concealed carry.
WOT is for women who are afraid of guns. We had one elderly lady who was so scared she would damage her pacemaker, she was ready to leave. My wife took her in and worked with her exclusively. Result: she wanted to shoot the rest of the period. Positive outcome, even if she never shoots again.
Most of the negative commentary that concerns me comes from professed gun owners. The anti-rights blatherings are silly and easy to refute. Our biggest enemy is other gun owners.
You can do better.
I am an Australian law and journalism student and i found this site while researching crime reporting. I feel that i cannot ignore your posts without commenting as i am offended and shocked by what you have written. You are factually incorrect and i sincerely question your logic, your morals and your common sense. For a start, violent crimes in Australia spiked in 1988 and have been steadily decreasing since then, so no, we don't need guns to protect ourselves from increasing crime. Secondly, we did not introduce gun laws in 1997, it was in 1996 following the Port Arthur Massacre. This was an incident where a young man named Martin Bryant shot 56 people, killing 35 of them. We didnt restict guns because we thought that it would end violent crime, we did it because we knew that it would make it harder for someone else to carry out such a devastating massacre and it has worked. Shooting sprees are almost unheard of in Australia now, while America continues to have Columbine style killings. Lastly, I would like you to prove the connection between gun access and rape as i do not see it. Yes a woman may be able to protect herself with a gun, but a man can also rape her at gun point. Furthermore, i am confused and worried by your article about why children should be able to use guns.
Just an added note, the US has one of the highest rape rates in the world and there was a 25% increase in reported rapes. Please research before posting.
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