Women are the next big thing!

Even CNN.com admits that when it comes to guns, it’s all about women these days.  I have a feeling that in 30 years, guns may be like college, more women will own and practice with them than men.

But gun manufacturers need to shape up their image. Too often the marketing is “shiny guns, big boobs”.  This = BAD MARKETING.

You want to hit it out of the park…I’d do an add campaign showing a “soccer mom” in various stages of life. Serving lunch to her kids, picking the kids up from soccer, etc, etc. All while wearing a concealed carry firearm, and photoshopping the image with translucency to show it beneath her garments. Don’t go super hot, go for chic mom appearance. I think that will hit it out of the park.

Also, start modifying your inventory. More adjustable rifles. Ruger…WHY THE HECK have you not released an adjustable stock 20 gauge shotgun? You think the LCP sold like hotcakes. What one gun can you hunt everything from pheasant to deer, and use for self defense. Put in the arms of a 6ft tall man or a 10 year old girl.  Seriously, this is the gun that DOES NOT EXIST – BUT SHOULD!!!
Stats

• 80% of firearm retailers reported increase in female customers in 2012
• 22%/28% of Florida/Texas carry permits are held by women. (The latter up seven fold in the last decade.)

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/07/news/companies/guns-women/index.html?source=cnn_bin

Our community is changing…

Times are changing.  The gun owning community is no longer about old fat balding white men.  Much of the growth and activism is being led women. Us men a vocal and lazy.  The women who own guns, they’re an independent, determine crowd, vocal crowd. Simultaneously, many minorities seem to be re-embracing their rights to defend themselves. After 50 years of accepting disarmament in cities, and seeing very little change in crime or gang gun shootings.  Minorities have been re-approaching their own histories of self defense. The fact that firearms, were prevalent during the civil rights movements.  And not just by those people might first associate with guns, such as the Black Panther movement. But even men of peace like Martin Luther King Jr. understood the need for strength.  (Yes, MLK owned firearms, and even applied for a carry permit.)  Why? Possessing strength does not require the use of said strength.  And never the initiation of force.  Which is what I believe MLK was pressing for in his call for a peaceful movement. He believed that progress could be achieved without the use of arms. I think he was right. But I don’t think he ever expected any father to sit back and not defend his family from harm. Just never be the initiator of harm.  Following such reasoning leads one to realize that no good man will ever bring harm to another good man.

NOTES:

Article on changing attitudes
http://www.volokh.com/2013/11/26/evolving-christian-attitudes-towards-personal-national-self-defense/

Article on MLK owning guns
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/mlk-and-his-guns_b_810132.html

Summary and link to 114 page PDF
http://connecticutlawreview.org/articles/firearms-policy-and-the-black-community-an-assessment-of-the-modern-orthodoxy/

Book on the history of the importance of arms for those who are not able to rely upon the state for protection.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/161614839X/thevolocons0d-20

Firearms and Feminism
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/358594/firearms-and-feminism-natalie-foster

 

Draft (and we ain’t mean beer)

To be honest, I’ve long held that on a personal level I do not have an issue with giving any male over the age of 18 a beer.  My argument, they’re 18, they’re an adult. How can we refuse them.  Don’t tell me they’re not mature enough.  They’re mature enough to have to register with the selective service, potentially be drafted, have a rifle shoved in their hands and be told to go kill people.

How much more maturity does one need to have a beer?

You might have noticed that I said any male, that’s because women do not have to register for selective service.  (Not because of maturity.)  And I’ve long argued that in the quest for equality women should be required to register for selective service. Even if there wasn’t a need for combat jobs, they certainly could fill roles in other military capacities (flying drones, IT, medical field, chefs, etc).  Well with the recent change in the military. And access of women into combat roles. The question now becomes, “Will this bastion of inequality be removed?”

If so, I have no problem with a gal subject to the draft having a draft.  😉

 

 

The Age of Eve

There has been a lot of discussion regarding how even when hyped up events such as the Martin-Zimmerman incident occurs, that overall, support for firearm ownership continues to be going up.

The questions begs to be asked “Why?”

Many will point, and I believe rightly so, to the Internet. Which has allowed for broader communication paths and a greater ability to press the mainstream media to recant misnomers and manipulations.  It was largely the ‘new media’ which began to shift the mainstream media’s portrayal of Zimmerman (mug shot) and Martin (cute little boy).  If not for the new media, we might not have ever seen the “real” participants.

But I believe there is a second trend that is also a large cause for the growing change in perception.  That is the XX chromosone…

Women, especially in certain communities and ethnicities, have been far less pro-gun and often anti-gun.  The ‘gun’ becomes the object of focus in tragedies rather than the deeds and/or behaviors.  It’s not that my “baby boy was dealing drugs”….it was that G-U-N!!!

It’s an emotional reaction, and in many ways understandable. It is far easier to blame an object and associate it with evil than acknowledge that we might have failed somehow in raising our children, or worse, failed to have the means to relocate a child far enough away from a bad environment.

All that said, our society is changing.  Gone is the “Leave it to Beaver” home of a working dad, doting mother, and smiling happy children.  More and more we are seeing the single working mother struggling to raise her kids on her own. Or the ‘independent woman’, 35+ never married, lives on their own, takes care of themselves.

The two women I believe are doing more to shape the perception of firearms than anything else, (excepting the internet).  You see as more and more women take care of themselves, and cease reliance on a ‘man’, they repeatedly come to a conclusion.  I can feed myself, cloth myself, pay a rent and live the lifestyle I want….but what about physically keeping myself safe?  The conclusion is that they need an “equalizer“.

“God made man; Colt made them equal!”

I’ve had a number of co-workers and acquaintances express interest in going to the range. Interestingly, 70%-80% have been women.  Talk about defying the stereotype, it’s not the men being “gung-ho” about guns. It’s independent women seeking to empower themselves with the strength to protect all their hardwork of life.

***

Inspired by the recent event of a woman in Detroit defending herself from four intruders.  Interestingly, they found her purse with her carry firearm. But she drew a back-up firearm and took one out with a head shot and sent the other three fleeing for police to find.

There has been a societal stigma of guns from certain circles and I think we are seeing that stigma decline.  Are we witnessing a return to a 150+ years ago where both men and women viewed firearms as merely tools of function?

 

 

Washington Times reports increase in women gun owners

In what is a fairly positive article, covering the increase in women purchasing firearms. It does not that the balance of firearm ownership is still skewed toward men.

I believe this is because, even though more women are buying firearm. Many are doing so for self-defense (ie: they’re buying a defense handgun and maybe a .22LR trainer).  Where as many males are collectors buying several guns a year. Regardless, this is very good news.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/30/more-females-may-be-turning-to-firearms/

On Women and Guns

There has been much in the news regarding the increased sales of firearms.  What is often not mentioned is the fact that many of these sales are new sales, first time buyers. And many of those are women.

Our society often portrays firearms as the tool of men.  But in reality, they are the equalizer.  There is a saying “God made men, but Colt made them equal.”  The meaning of that saying is that prior to the firearm, an individual’s strength is what gave them power.  It was also what enabled them to overpower another who had less strength.  The firearm is a tool that allows a physically weaker individual to defend themselves against a physically stronger one.  Sadly, a situation which many women have found themselves in.

I wanted to provide some information and resources specifically for my female readers.

***

The Cornered Cat, is a website dedicated to information on self defense from a woman’s perspective. (Though it’s a great and informative read of us guys too!)

ProArms Podcast is a roundtable discussion by a number small arms experts.  In August 2008 the ladies on the show did an all women podcast focused on topics and questions of interest to women.

Women of Caliber, is a female gun blogger who has a number of great posts on the matter of women with guns, and did a four part series on children & firearms  [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]

A lot of information concerning firearms, training, etc is relevant to both men and women. But there are a number of aspects that are different. For example, holsters and carrying concealed. Women have hips…men don’t. This makes for a difference in how a holster fits. And many holsters and carry positions that might be comfortable for a man, can be very uncomfortable for a woman.

The above items are just a few resources to get people started. There are many others to be found. In fact, I even found a magazine called Women & Guns dedicated to women and guns. Now, I don’t know much about the magazine or it’s quality.  I am just putting it out there to show you what type of resources exist.

One of the biggest barriers that woman face when entering the world of becoming a gun owner, and taking responsibility for their own protection and the protection of their families, is the aspect of feeling alone.

Realize that you are not alone. There are between 12-17 million  women or even more in America who own firearms and protect themselves.  However, most of the time people are oblivious to the fact. People usually don’t go touting that they are a permit holder and are carrying a fire concealed. The whole point of carrying concealed is concealment. So how would you ever find out that the girl sitting next to you was carrying a .38 special?

Sometimes there are hints that shooters drop now and then if they think someone might also be interested in guns.  Occasionally, an individual is a bit more open about it, being an advocate – I fall into this category. It’s a compromise. In order to be an advocate I must share and reveal more than I would like to, but I do so for the purpose of advocacy –  to encourage people to take responsibility for themselves and their family’s well being, and to protect our communal rights to live safely.

The topic of gun ownership will often come up when a friend is or has been in a situation in which there was a risk of personal harm. Such as the drunken ex-b/f with the restraining order, having been raped, assaulted, robbed, etc.  It is at these times that ordinary people who prior walked around feeling safe, realize that they had simply, up until now, been lucky. They find themselves full of questions. Will it happen again? How can I be safe? Why?

It’s the realization that when in an emergency situation where seconds count, the police are only minutes away.  That realization is something akin to taking the “red pill” and seeing the Matrix for what it is.

Now I am not advocating that everyone get a gun. Truthfully, it’s not for everybody (if you’re a felon or irresponsible individual…please do not buy a gun).  But if you are a responsible individual who takes personal responsibility – than I think you should at least consider the merits of gun ownership. And if you do, I also suggest investing in some professional training. The NRA offers a number of courses that go from introductory, all the way to defense of the home and carry outside the home.

And while we’ve talked mainly about self-defense. There is an entire world of sporting and marksmanship to be found as a gun owner. Many women find themselves falling alove with the sport and competition of a variety of shooting sports.  Whether it’s marksmanship, shooting clay pigeons with a shotgun, or competitions which have more of a focus on practical self-defense techniques.  Shooting is fun!!! And women are good at it…

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PS – If you have any questions on any of the above topics, please feel free to contact me. I’ll try to provide an answer or at the very least, endeavor to point you in the direction of someone who can.  Especially, if you’re one who is considering becoming a gun owner but still has some concerns and need more information.  Contact info is on the right toward the bottom…