Giving women guns wouldn’t prevent rape: it would land women in jail. That’s the headline hovering over an article at theguardian.com. Sounds like a follow-up to the popular children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, wherein a rodent with ADD runs the cookie-giver ragged. But Cookie book is comedy. OK, The Guardian article is too, only unintentional and darker . . .
In addition to the overwhelming research that shows guns are more likely to kill than protect women, it’s also fairly clear what would happen if women did arm themselves against rapists and abusers.
If a woman was raped and found not to be carrying a weapon, would we blame her for being foolish in the same way culture does now when women are attacked at night, or after they’ve had a drink?
Over the last few months, we’ve seen the way women are treated when they dared to simply out the men who hurt them – does anyone really believe women shooting them would somehow go over better?
And there I was thinking this article was about armed self-defense against rape. Straw man! Woman? Columnist Jessica Valenti’s (above) focus of victim blaming tells us that she knows that arguing against armed defense against rape puts her on a hiding to nowhere. Which is exactly where she goes . . .
And at what point should a woman who fears being raped shoot her attacker? Should she pull the trigger when he ignores her first “no”? After he pushes her on to a bed? Or would a woman need to wait until penetration is literally about to occur to shoot, just to be sure?
It’s one thing to be ignorant. It’s another to parade your ignorance like a Macy’s Day Parade Kermit the Frog. If Ms. Valenti did a femtosecond of research she’d know that a woman can shoot someone who poses an imminent, credible threat of grievous bodily harm (rape qualifies) or death. There. That wasn’t hard, was it?
And it wouldn’t be hard for a woman facing an imminent, credible threat of grievous bodily harm to convince the police, prosecutor, judge and/or jury of that fact and, thus, escape jail. Yes, even in New Jersey.
Somehow I don’t have faith that a court system that continually fails and blames rape victims would be very kind to women who kill their attackers. In fact, women who have tried to protect themselves from sexual or domestic violence haven’t been lauded as second-amendment heroes – they’ve been arrested.
Marissa Alexander was sent to prison after firing just a warning shot at her abusive husband. Bresha Meadows was just 14 years old when she shot her father in an attempt to protect her family from him – she was charged with aggravated murder. In both cases, not a peep was heard from the NRA. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that neither Meadows or Alexander is white.
Somehow I don’t have faith in Ms. Valenti’s objectivity . . .
Ms. Alexander was sent to jail for firing a “warning shot” straight at her alleged abuser, after retrieving her gun from her car, with a 12-year-old in close proximity. (Click here to read the details.)
As for Ms. Meadows’ supposed defensive gun use note that she shot her father while he was sleeping. And that members of Ms. Meadows’ family claimed her father had learned his lesson; he hadn’t abused his daughter in years. The [not all-white] jury agreed.
Guns have not and will not protect us. They won’t help women, they won’t help children. They kill us. Loesch and the NRA know this already; but their bottom line has long trumped the safety of the most vulnerable Americans.
In the words of my new hero, shooting survivor Emma González: I call BS.
And I call BS on Ms. Valenti calling BS.
Estimates of annual defensive gun uses (DGUs) vary, but it’s safe to say there are over a million DGUs per year. How many of those involved women? How many were a response to attempted rape? That’s not known.
But was IS known: tens of thousands of women carry a firearm to defend themselves from grievous bodily harm or death. They do so safe in the knowledge that it’s better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it. Put that in your anti-paternalistic pipe and smoke it!
She’s right about one thing, the NRA is terrible.
Philando Castille (and a myriad of other things of course) proved that….
Gun plus drugs. That’s why the NRA didn’t say anything.
Oxyclean is pretty good for blood stains, I know from experience.
Heavy period?
Speaking of getting out blood stains, this is an oldie but a goodie…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohQCAFNrU60
What does scare me is that there is a narrative that a man asking for a woman’s phone number constitutes rape.
I don’t understand how anyone in that situation could live with themselves if they didn’t at least try.
Was The Guardian the one with the pro-pedophile piece or was that Salon? I can’t keep all the Stalinist rags apart anymore.
Amazing. So Floridians have completely lost faith in their population of under 21 year olds. The same people who are expected to die to protect all of our collective freedoms in war. America’s expiration date draws ever closer. 🙁
Not only the stupidest comment, but the most sexist. I have been an NRA instructor for over 35 years and have taught dozens of women the basics of pistol marksmanship. Generally, women tend to be more accurate and faster then their male counterparts. My students get 8 hours on the range starting with a .22LR and moving up to more powerful handguns. Better to be able to protect yourself regardless of gender then to be a victim. Training and practice are key.
if one of my kids is in the school, definitely yes. if not, i don’t know. hopefully i never have to find out.
Obviously The Idiot article writer is focused on Date rape scenarios.
First what happened to personal responsibility, You know Don’t go to dumb places, with dumb people at dumb times.
Second of all women carry firearms because they do have to go places,(dark parking lots, Gas stations, ect.) sometimes alone where there are predators waiting for an opportunity to Rape, Rob and Kill.
I’m 36 and I’ve never been robbed or assaulted because since I was 15 I followed the:
Don’t go dumb places with dumb people at dumb times and do dumb things
After all I’m just a mansplaining white conservative male what do I know?
My normal concealed carry pistol is a S&W M&P 40 pro 5″ Bbl. With 15 hst rounds, I think I’m good. I always carry 2 backup magazines, the weight seems to balance and it carries easier. The Blade Tech nano actually let’s me sometimes forget it’s there.
She is a feminist. Feminists are THE WORST people on the planet. They should all be shipped to Iran.
Ah, Maybe your Floridian Governor and his Administration is receiving help from his RINO Globalist Counterpart in the Peoples Republic Of Massachusetts…Who of course is in league with Militant Lib-TARD Pro-Aggressive (re: insert political sub-catogory. Socialist/Marxist/Communist.) DemoCrappic Party…..Maybe We’ll send down AG. Maura Healey to really show you how its done in infringements against the lawful citizens…If anything Massachusetts knows is how to Criminalize its residents…..
Ban assault periscopes! For the children, of course.
To all you nra spokesmen and ladies tell us how much you make from each gun, each bullet, each sale that has killed hundreds of thousands of patriotic law abiding americans. Tell us that. You are the problem, the reason, the people who have murdered my fellow Americans. Your disgusting rethoric reeks with the rotting stench of all the dead corpses left in the wake of your bullshit about the second amendment. It’s all about the money, I wish you were never born. You have blood of patriotic citizens on your hands and want more. You’ve become the gasoline that feeds this out of control fire. Keep your guns close because it’s a matter of time when this fire engulfs you. They should come on handy to you cowards when the pain you’ve created heads toward you. An easy way out, unlike the living americans that have to deal with a gun death for the rest of thier lives.
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what he should have said was:
“if any person or entity henceforth declares a gun free zone anywhere and subsequent to that declaration fails to provide adequate security and defenses and a tragedy ensues said person or entity will have to defend that decision in a court of law which will determine their liability and culpability both criminally and civilly”
once people start facing jail time and or civil fines for their ill conceived decision to violate other peoples human rights by taking away their natural right to self defense they will definitely change their tune
just remember who gave birth to the whole gun free zone in the modern era:
thats right…
none other than uncle joe “big fucking deal” biden…
“How Joe Biden Turned Our Schools Into Shooting Galleries”
https://conservativetribune.com/joe-biden-turned-schools-into/
thanks biden
Wow, 223 day r night. Didn’t know about that, stepping off my back porch Rickey tick and burning forty.What will the neighbors say? I
again, i must repeat: legislation is urgently required which will stymie the media and gun-control groups from exploiting such incidents to attack Constitutional rights;
Thank you for the information you shared. In fact, it is interesting to note that this topic is so interesting
Australian soldiers at Gallipoli made periscope sights using shaving mirrors and scrape timber and no doubt the Turks did the same. Distance between trenches was only 20 yards in some places.
Later on in France both sides had factory made versions.
So it was 4 deputies not just 1 that failed to deal with a threat from 1 known, broken human being turning evil. And before that the local authorities failed to recognize him as a threat after 39 visits to his abode. And before that the FBI failed to investigate or follow up after 2 strong tips about him last September and again this past January. It doesn’t bode well for the school or schools that get attacked by a coordinated ISIS onslaught.
America has been put on notice with statements and videos that ISIS intends to bring their barbarity to our country. The FBI has publicly stated that they know there are ISIS Cells in all 50 states. Most of these have used our porous southern border to gain entry. ISIS has over a billion dollars of assets from their plundering in Iraq and Syria. It doesn’t take a big stretch of the imagination to realize that they have been watching and analyzing these mass shootings with the goal to take advantage of our idiotic GFZ laws, political correctness and lack of political will and preparedness to protect our children. Now imagine, my fellow Americans, what the carnage will be like when teams of 5 or more, well trained and motivated to martyr Jihadists armed with IEDs, semi-auto long guns and long knives come to campus to 30 or more schools nationwide simultaneously. Will many of you still conclude that guns are the problem?
“team-up for a hit piece on NRA Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer. Mostly? It makes her look good. But impugn they do . . .”
They should have let Ms.Hammer write it as she is her own worst enemy.
Being raped and/or killed is morally superior to defending yourself.
Victim culture needs victims.
There is nothing new here.