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….
Curious why you take that particular opinion on the Castille case?
Because he was legally carrying and a jumpy cop killed him as he drew his wallet?
That seems like a good reason to me.
And yes, we can say he made a bad call in reaching for his wallet after telling the cop he had a concealed gun. But we can say the same about a woman who walks down a dark street at night, or goes into the apartment of a man she barely knows, and gets raped. But the rape is the crime, not the bad judgement, just like pulling out a wallet is not a crime.
Castile was a prohibited person*. The cop wasn’t competent. Castile wasn’t competent. The situation was FUBAR, and the NRA was smart to stay well clear of it.
*He was a user of marijuana. That makes him a prohibited person whether any of us agree with either of the laws that make that the case.
Castile was stopped because the officer smelled marijuana coming from the car. That is why Castile was stopped by the officer. His marijuana intoxication caused him to become nervous and move around inside the vehicle. Thats why he got shot. Not because of the color of his skin.
And as a black gun owner who open carries a gun, I’ve been stopped by police. With my hands on the wheel I tell them I have gun. But then I’m not intoxicated on pot or anything else.
And I did not get a ticket or get shot.
I’ve been stopped once and another time a car hit me. I NEVER tell a cop I have a gun. Always inform I’m a CCW carrier and wait their response or instruction. Then I always repeat his instruction then ask which way do you want me to move. If two officers I ask which one should I follow their direction.
Gun plus drugs. That’s why the NRA didn’t say anything.
Exactly. To the NRA his concealed carry status was irrelevant. The deceased was shown very quickly to be someone shown on social media videos to be drinking while driving, pot smoking while driving, frequently with the young daughter in the back seat. From a political and PR perspective Mr Castille was someone the NRA pretty much had to stay silent on.
Damn, guess those wrongs certainly made him worthy of death at the hands of a scumbag cop. Carry on citizen! May you have better luck than Castille.
No one said those things made him deserve to die.
Those things did make him untouchable because regardless of the news drum beat the NRA only has so many resources in terms of time, money, and manpower.
They have to pick where and how they are going to use them. Picking a case, tragic and unjustified as it was, that undermines the core message on responsible gun ownership is not a good use of those resources.
Not to say every time they open their mouth is a good use either. But that isn’t the topic here.
“Damn, guess those wrongs certainly made him worthy of death at the hands of a scumbag cop”
Actually, except for the scumbag part, you’re pretty close to the truth.
Someone who is high is, by definition, not acting rationally. Put that together with a cop (who rightly should be nervous on a traffic stop,since that’s where most assaults on cops occur), and it’s a recipe for some truly regrettable results.
This, my friend, is reality. Which is, by a strange coincidence, what users of drugs are trying to get away from.
And civilian disarmament overtakes the much wept about women’s issues in the progressive heirarchy of desire. At least for awhile.
Sounds like Valenti is anti-choice. She doesn’t want individual women to be able to make their own choices on this issue. She wants their decisions to be dictated by the matriarchy. Why can’t she just leave this decision to a woman and her firearms retailer. It’s a very personal decision.
The left believe that a woman who is raped and strangled with her own stockings is morally superior to one that shoots and kills her attacker!
You can make the choices we let you make, comrade.
So women shouldn’t be empowered? It’s better for them to be raped or killed? Thinking the opposite makes me a male chauvinist pig? Is that a trannie? I am so confused now.
It is real simple guys, if you want to understand leftist logic do this:
Think of everything that is natural, moral, patriotic, self-reliant, logical, and honorable, then do the opposite.
Now you have it!
Yep….. read the “red state” and “indian country” books (someone else here recomended them in a past post, so i read them and they are Hillary-ious). California is almost there and your states will be headed in that direction soon. We just got revised CA compliant state forms the other day that added the boxes: “gender pref” “preferred pronoun” “M , F , non-binary” “he, she, xe, other” ….. coming to your state soon…… also, that cop that hid at the florida shooting; In my part of California he probably would have been given a medal for using “time and distance”, not escalating the situation, and exercising restraint. The shooter would probably be acquitted and then successfully sue the city for millions of dollars. And law abiding citizens would be blamed for their “violent phalocentric race privilege which created a gun crazy culture and put the gun in the hand of the neglected mental health victim…… now shut up and give us your money!” …… 16 years and a wake-up, and I’m out of here.
Yes, the brave thing is to be raped, so you can tell social media about your heroism later. Seriously, that’s how they operate.
“Teach, why is Kevin being called a hero?”
“Because he was…attacked.”
Guns killing or protecting women?
My gun won’t even bring in the paper. It just looks at me with its orange XS front sight,
What does scare me is that there is a narrative that a man asking for a woman’s phone number constitutes rape.
This oatmeal is rape, because rape. Thanks feminism!
Come on Damn it! It’s because it’s oatmeal.
of course because we all know mixed oats are a most rapacious bunch.
Was The Guardian the one with the pro-pedophile piece or was that Salon? I can’t keep all the Stalinist rags apart anymore.
I’m pretty sure it was Salon.
OK PEOPLE – THIS AHOLE AND PEOPLE LIKE HER DEMAND THAT YOU ONLY PROTECT YOURSELF UP TO THE POINT YOU CAN STAND WHAT THEY (OR OTHER POS (D) MFn AHOLES LIKE HER, THINK ABOUT THAT.
SH_T LIKE THIS WON’T STOP UNTIL THEY ARE FORCED TO SPEND MOST OF THEIR (REMAINING) WAKING HOURS
FING
HIDING.
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.
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?
Obviously, you are a male. Which means you’re a sexist pig who doesn’t understand that women, simply because they are women, can go anywhere they want, dressed in any style they want, and after drinking any amount of alcohol they want, and all men should recognize that, because she is a woman, should be able to expect that all men, even those evil sexist pigs like you, will leave her alone, and instead, pick on evil sexist pigs like you.
Because…
Wait, I don’t understand why, actually.
Never mind.
Was Emma González in the line of fire or in another building when the shooting happened? I think even I could survive not being shot at. I doubt I’d be called a hero for it or asked to speak anywhere though.
well I guess that proves it is physically possible for a body to survive the amount of drugs it takes to produce a negative I.Q. Now the more pressing matter, how has she not died? Seriously who is constantly with her telling her when to inhale and when to exhale?
She is a feminist. Feminists are THE WORST people on the planet. They should all be shipped to Iran.
Nah, Saudi Arabia, just like their idol Linda Sarsour. They apparently have no problem with one of the most prominent feminists in the nation openly calling for Sharia Law. I say it would be nice to revoke their US citizenships and pay the Saudis to take them so they can see exactly what they are demanding (this is a fantasy of mine; of course there would be quite a few problems with that, unfortunately)
Not a bad suggestion. Frankly, I would pitch in to have them expelled from the country.
Jessica Valenti looks like THE MISSING LINK, a TRANS-HUMAN, devolving into a fetid cistern of stupidity, enamored with its “brilliance”, nothing more than flatulence staring into a mirror…
Ernesto “Ernie” Blonk
Little Jessica thinks that “giving women guns” is a bad idea. I am inclined to agree. Fortunately, the democrat party is not likely to try buying votes, by advocating handing out artillery to people with ovaries, anytime soon. Law abiding females who choose to purchase firearms for self-defense, or any other reason, is a different matter. It is no surprise that a writer for The Guardian lacks the intellectual capacity to make that distinction.
Anyone who shoots someone in self-defense should be TERRIFIED that some anti-gun, anti-self-defense prosecutor will charge them with a crime. It happens a the time. I know, I represent people charged as such. It all depends on which jurisdiction you’re in…
IIRC…..Dana Perino….The 5 on Fox……
Paraphrasing…..”We should try new ideas on how to stop school shootings like taxing ammo”
UhHuh….I can clearly envision some potetntial mass murderer aborting his evil plan because his ammo expendenture goes up by $10 or so due to new taxes. Yeah I can totally see that.
Totally agree.
How many rounds of 9mm ammunition does it require for a criminal to rob a years worth of dollar generals and gas stations? Probably less than a box.
How many training rounds does it take police or armed civilian to take out same criminal effectively without injuring bystander? Many, many boxes.
I know personally that the harder they make it to get or my perception it will be harder, the more I stockpile. I can’t be alone in that mentality if you look at sales during Obama’s years.
There is no “overwhelming research that shows guns are more likely to kill than protect women”.
There is only a steaming pile of garbage advocacy “research”. Agenda-driven propaganda intended, from its conception, to give volume to demands of the hoplophobic control freaks.
Arthur Z Przebinda, M.D.
Project Director
Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership
Mr. Farago, a quick question, if you don’t mind. Do you ever receive replies or queries from the people that write this horribly sexist and patronizing garbage? Do they ever respond to an article you have written in response to theirs? I’m genuinely curious. I once would become almost berserker angry when I see people write this trash or when they post their vitriol on this site, only to be hilariously shamed and proven wrong. But, I’ve honestly just come to the point where when I read what these leftists post, I am sincerely dumbfounded and saddened as to how a somewhat intelligent organism can steadfastly believe their own lies. Do they really not know any better. Like the mike bunch of numbers guy or the resistance patriot American whatever person. They sincerely and feverently believe what they say, despite all the facts and data showing that they should believe otherwise. Then on to the universities that were once a bastion for the attainment of knowledge and wisdom, but, have since denigrated into political partisinism. The social sciences, if you can call them that, are no longer interested in the attainment of such qualities and instead cow and lie for their own interests. When will it end? With a bang, I’m thinking.
They are either Soros/Bloomberg bots or we need to drug test them to find out what type of drugs is effecting their thought processes.
It’s getting even worse with this Emma Gonzalez individual, whom splinter.com ran a headline saying that she handed Dana Loesch her ass. It’s gertijg beyond loony, ecspecialy when you read the comments saying that how could unarmed teachers defeat a school shooter. They believe these shooters are invincible juggernauts and that teachers are bumbling fools unable to operate a simple mechanical object. That has to the most egregious and sickening line of “ reasoning” I have heard so far. That a school shooter, without much training, can kill 14 people, but, a teacher with a similar amount of aptitude is incapable of defending her students and herself. It just boggles my mind. Like I said before, berserker rage even now just reading the headlines about how this school shooting survivor, with no logic or facts to base her arguments upon, handed Mrs. Loesch her ass. What?! How do they honestly convince themselves of such illogical garbage?
They’re all fucking Brit sheep….. They lost the right to tell us what to do 236 years ago…
Why do these leftist harpies always have to scowl at the camera?
“Listen pussycat, smile a bit” – Borat
Did she not even take into account that just showing the gun would prevent a rape? Most likely the woman wouldn’t even have to fire.
I went as far as rape, and wemon going to jail for raping the bastsrd in the ass. with a S&W 29. :::::
Well, I can’t say this is surprising to read. It just OOZES persecution complex (Oh woe is me, society hates women so much that if i shot a rapist I would be lynched! Waaaah!). The Left in general, and feminists in particular, love their victimhood narratives, and no doubt this author genuinely believes that women in 2018 America are the most horrifically oppressed group in history. Quite funny, really. But then, the lives of these losers are so utterly devoid of meaning they have to convince everyone else they are the TRUE victims, so that they can then convince everybody else that they aren’t just worthless losers who contribute nothing and blame everyone else for their failures; no, they are actually BRAVE HEROES FIGHTING TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION. And as far as they are concerned, they are ALWAYS victims, no matter how much they can turn things their way. As long as they are victims of oppression, they can be fighting oppression. But if they are no longer victims, well, what else can a weak-willed parasite do to find some degree of meaning in their lives? Actually MAKE SOMETHING OF THEMSELVES? Nah, that’s too hard. Look! The patriarchy’s back! WOMEN UNITE!
“And at what point should a woman who fears being raped shoot her attacker? …”
I’m confused at the angst. I thought agency was a good thing.
Answering the question, I’ll leave that to her to decide. That’s part of being a grown up — you decide things. Part of being competent — you decide big things. Part of being human — sometimes you decide wrong. Part of living with humans — sometimes you get a ration of crap even when you weren’t wrong.
The point is a woman should have the choice to protect herself if that’s what’s left to her. And the right to live with the choices she’s made. As with many other things. It’s about owning your self.
The Guardian is a British paper. Of course They’re against self defense!
Being raped and/or killed is morally superior to defending yourself.
Victim culture needs victims.
There is nothing new here.
>”Ms. Alexander was sent to jail for firing a “warning shot” ”
Warning shots are never a good idea. 1) You don’t know where the bullet will end up, and 2) one should never discharge or even brandish a weapon unless the situation calls for actually shooting the assailant.
>”…straight at her alleged abuser.”
Not exactly a “warning shot.” LOL!
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