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Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

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Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#71

Post by derstander »

nradov wrote: post #43
soco wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somehow I never read news about "rapist shot dead by attacked woman". Are you positive that buying more firearms will make it happen? Because it definitely doesn't look we're there yet.

In most incidents where people use firearms to protect themselves no shots are fired, just brandishing the weapon is enough. Those incidents don't make the news. Buy if you're looking for an actual news story, here's one. https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/resident-shoots-woul...

> just brandishing the weapon is enough

The comment is probably not meant this way, but brandishing has connotations of anger, excitement, or intimidation.

I would caution one not to do this as it may be illegal in your jurisdiction. Only draw a firearm with the intent to use it, not with the intent to intimidate. Certainly, the intent to use it may have a side effect of intimidating an aggressor — I don’t dispute that.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#72

Post by meheleventyone »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #54
Balero wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to have the big "I consider America the world" disclaimer at the top. A world where a regular person in their everyday life do not need firearms exists all over the world. Are you the police? are you the military? and if so are you currently working? If not then you do not need a gun. The police all over the world do show up when needed, and the don't shoot people unless it is a complete last resort. In the…

In London, unarmed police stood and watched as a man was beheaded in broad daylight in front of a crowd. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Lee_Rigby

Funny because your link directly contradicts the version of events you put forward. Not only was he killed before the police arrived but the two attackers were shot by armed police very shortly after the regular police arrived and prevented any other mayhem. AND a whole bunch of unarmed regular people intervened as well.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#73

Post by chmod600 »

There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns. The idea that people should not have to give up all of their ability to fight. The idea that people should not be entirely dependent on police for their defense. And the idea that physically weaker people (often women) can defend themselves against the strong.

Does this idea work? Surprisingly well. If you had to guess the effect of supplying a country with more guns than people -- some 300+ million -- you might guess that people would be dropping like flies. But the U.S. murder rate is not all that remarkable, really. Murder is not a major concern outside of a handful of dangerous areas.

And that's it, really. Guns are a problem in these few areas. But people everywhere else don't want to give up their guns because of a few areas where they are a problem. And they have a point: often in those dangerous places, existing laws against illegal gun sales or felon-in-possesseion aren't enforced very well.

One thing is for sure: picking around the edges by outlawing certain kinds of rifles or making all kinds of other weird laws won't do anything. Rifles are used in something like 2% of murders. Either you outlaw and collect all handguns (including revolvers), or don't bother.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#74

Post by nradov »

ajay-b wrote: post #64

The entire police force can do nothing for you on the phone. I think it is the reductions in police that are convincing more women to purchase.

It's not just that police forces have been reduced. In some major cities police abandoned certain areas to anarchy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53218448

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#75

Post by archontes »

cdiamand wrote: post #60
motohagiography wrote: post #50

I suspect that those women are realizing they can't reasonably rely on men for any kind of protection, as any kind of physical protection is basically illegal, taboo, and effectively bred out of the middle class now anyway, so it makes sense more women would take responsibility themselves. Gun purchases also correlate to perceptions of changes in social order as well, where there's a "get 'em before they're gone!" cy…

Is it illegal, taboo, and bred out though? We live in a culture of glorified violence seen widely in film, print, pop culture. We've got an enormous catalog of shooter videogames going back decades that our youngster clamor to purchase and play. We've got a set of laws that allow you to take steps to defend yourself in your own home, with varying degrees of strictness and leniency. Anecdotally, I know many people in…

A gentleman's cane used to be a bludgeon in addition to being a fashion accessory.

Video games are the furthest thing from physical defense. They're amusement. Do you really think that playing video games leads to increased skill and confidence when engaging in a fistfight in the street?

In schools in the US, children are punished for defending themselves in a fight. There is a vanishingly small percentage of people who have the practical experience to be comfortable physically battering a stranger on the street corner to a reasonable degree.

I imagine that description will evoke the thought in your head that there is no reasonable degree, that physical violence isn't the answer, and that the right thing to do in a situation where you're physically accosted is to leave the area or call for security. Yep. That's what we're talking about. There's an amount of security provided by a man who's comfortable slapping another man in the head because the other man is being aggressive, if only because that comfort is communicated in non-verbal ways which subsequently make it unnecessary.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#76

Post by a_conservative »

merpnderp wrote: post #52
Balero wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to have the big "I consider America the world" disclaimer at the top. A world where a regular person in their everyday life do not need firearms exists all over the world. Are you the police? are you the military? and if so are you currently working? If not then you do not need a gun. The police all over the world do show up when needed, and the don't shoot people unless it is a complete last resort. In the…

Whenever I hear about how the rest of the world doesn't need guns I always think of the Mexican avacado farmers who used (highly illegal) guns to protect their farms from cartels because the government can't protect them. Always funny when a European corrects an American that the rest of the world is not America, as it is obviously Paris.

Many ignore that the authorities always have guns. The only question is whether the civilians are able to have them too!

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#77

Post by Throwawayaerlei »

ryandvm wrote: post #69
sharklazer wrote: post #53

Everyone should own a gun, and most more than 1. If we were to maintain public education (which... just no, please) gun education should be standard.

Strange take. In 40+ years, I've never needed a gun to defend myself. Nor do I even _know anyone_ that needed to use a gun to lawfully defend themselves. So why should we all have something that A) the lawful uses of such are exceedingly rare, and B) ends up involved in a lot of unlawful or unintentional killings.

So I guess you don't have fire extinguishers in your house, car or place of work, only buy car liability insurance because it's the law, or home insurance because it's required by your mortgage holder? No insurance for your personal property?

I've owned guns for self protection in the same 40+ years and have never needed them for self-protection, but I also haven't needed any of the other above forms of insurance except the last which came in really handy when my apartment was hit by a natural disaster.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#78

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

meheleventyone wrote: post #72
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In London, unarmed police stood and watched as a man was beheaded in broad daylight in front of a crowd. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Lee_Rigby

Funny because your link directly contradicts the version of events you put forward. Not only was he killed before the police arrived but the two attackers were shot by armed police very shortly after the regular police arrived and prevented any other mayhem. AND a whole bunch of unarmed regular people intervened as well.

> Not only was he killed before the police arrived

I don't know if that can be proven. He never had a medical assessment that established that at the time, and everyone involved would have had incentive to say he was already dead to avoid initiating a confrontation with the armed attackers.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#79

Post by seneca »

chmod600 wrote: post #73

There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns. The idea that people should not have to give up all of their ability to fight. The idea that people should not be entirely dependent on police for their defense. And the idea that physically weaker people (often women) can defend themselves against the strong. Does this idea work? Surprisingly well. If you had to guess the…

I agree with most of your post. One small quibble though:

> There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns.

The whole point is that the government Can Not take away guns, not that they "would not". Inalienable rights preceed government, they are not granted by it. In fact, the government is supposed to exist to safe guard them.

I think that's an important philosophical point that a lot of people, especially the anti-gun type, lose sight of. Not suggesting you're in that camp, but I think the distinction is important.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#80

Post by [deleted] »

seneca wrote: post #79
chmod600 wrote: post #73

There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns. The idea that people should not have to give up all of their ability to fight. The idea that people should not be entirely dependent on police for their defense. And the idea that physically weaker people (often women) can defend themselves against the strong. Does this idea work? Surprisingly well. If you had to guess the…

I agree with most of your post. One small quibble though: > There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns. The whole point is that the government Can Not take away guns, not that they "would not". Inalienable rights preceed government, they are not granted by it. In fact, the government is supposed to exist to safe guard them. I think that's an important philosophical p…

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