Marie Claire magazine has joined the War on Men With Guns launched/coordinated by Cosmopolitan magazine (and sponsored by Michael Bloomberg). Teaming up with the Harvard Injury Control Research Center — home of the notorious anti-gun researcher David Hemenway — Marie Claire’s minions surveyed some two thousand folks about firearms. One result: “51 percent of women would vote for a political candidate who vowed to push for gun control. 47 percent wouldn’t.” Here are some more interesting stats . . .
- Almost a third of American women—32 percent—report that they live in a household with a gun.
- 12 percent of American women own a gun themselves. 33 percent of men do.
- 61 percent of women who own a gun have more than one.
Wait! If the generally accepted stat asserting that 50 percent of American households have a gun, someone’s got some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy! TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia regularly point out that, when asked, people lie about guns in surveys. So there is that.
Twelve percent female firearms ownership? Wow, we’ve come a long way, baby! The stat backs up sales data showing that women are a growing segment of the gun-buying population. The fact that 61 percent of women gun owners own more than one gun shows the strength and vitality of that market. Unless . . .
Unless you’re Marie Claire and you’re presenting your Women and Guns super-duper gun feature.
To read any set of statistics about guns in the United States is to read about men. Surveys typically assess gun ownership by household, meaning that if one person keeps a gun, his or her choice ends up representing the preference of everyone in the home. Counting by household silences the voice of whoever lost the debate, if there was one. And in the important and demographically lopsided issue of gun ownership, the silenced voice is usually a woman’s. . . . it turns out that when women are allowed to speak for themselves, they have very different things to say.
Death to the male oppressors! With guns! Seriously though, MC’s editors are such spoil sports. Let’s continue.
- Among gun owners, women are less likely to carry their weapons in public than men are. 15 percent of gun-owning women reported carrying a loaded handgun in the last 30 days, versus 23 percent of gun-owning men.
- 56 percent of gun-owning women think having a gun at home makes it a safer place. But only 20 percent of women in the general populace do.
- 77 percent of gun-owning women said protection against strangers was a main reason they have a handgun.
- It is rare for a woman to be threatened with a gun—just one percent of women report having been threatened with a gun in the last five years. Even fewer women—less than one percent—report having used a gun in self-defense in the last five years.
Carrying a loaded handgun? Why, I do believe I’m getting the vapors (not my favorite band, but needs must)! While the 15 percent of women gun owners carry stat seems low, it isn’t. It’s just eight percentage points below the same stat for men. And I reckon both stats indicate an increasing willingness to carry, period.
Interesting that “only” 56 percent of gun-owning women think a gun increases home safety. I’d like to see the exact wording of that question. Alas, as is so often with this kind of data, the question verbiage got lost on the way to the printers. Internet. Whatever.
The question on “protection against strangers” — which 77 percent of female respondents list as their primary reason for gun ownership — indicates that women view a gun as a self-defense tool outside the home. And yet only 15 percent carry? Go figure.
No figuring needed as to why MC decided to hammer on the point that women aren’t attacked. Well, not much. The stat revealing that [an unstated number] less than one percent of women reported using their firearm for a defensive gun use is astounding. If it’s .05 percent of 2000, that’s ten female-enacted DGUs. As the Donald would say, that’s HUGE!
- When asked to rank several security measures by how much safer they would make the respondent feel, 36 percent of women ranked installing a home security system first. The next two most popular answers for women were having a large dog—15 percent—and taking a self-defense class—13 percent. Having a loaded gun in their purse/bag/car or having a loaded gun at home, followed—each cited by 12%.
Right answer!
- 47 percent of women said seeing a civilian in public wearing a holstered gun would make them feel less safe. 14 percent said they would feel safer.
- 74 percent of women believe that men and women have different mindsets about guns.
- 10 percent of women say they think about guns roughly once a day.
Open carry advocates (male and female) note: nearly half of the female population are uncomfortable with an openly carried firearm. Open carry advocates note: 14 percent are on your side, but good. Even better — but not stated — 39 percent are on the fence. Carry on!
Men and women “have different mindsets” about a given topic? Who knew? Ten percent of women think about guns “roughly” (oooh) once a day? psychologytoday.com reports that, on average, men think about sex 34.2 times a day. Women think about reproduction 18.6 times a day. I’m not sure how that’s relevant but, uh, Google is my friend.
- 62 percent of women say laws governing gun sales should be stricter. 29 percent think the laws are fine as they are, and 8 percent say they should be less strict.
- 63 percent of women want gun laws to be a major topic in the coming presidential debates.
- 51 percent of women would vote for a political candidate who vowed to push for gun control. 47 percent wouldn’t.
- 51 percent of women want the next president to take action about guns, including 25 percent advocating for tougher gun control and 14 percent asking for better background checks and mental health screenings.
Marie Claire’s editors and other gun control advocates use these stats to bolster their anti-gun agitprop. I say, fuhgeddaboutit. Aside from the voting question, these results are meaningless without knowing exactly what was asked. What action do they want the president to take? What does “tougher gun control” mean?
- Terrorist attacks and school shootings have had a greater negative impact on women’s feelings about guns than men’s. 49 percent of women report more negative feelings about guns, while only 33 percent of men do.
- 45 percent of women say mass public shootings have increased because of personal problems, like untreated mental illness. 30 percent of women blame society, including media coverage of mass shootings.
While you’d expect Mama Bears to be more upset about terrorist attacks than Papa Bears, the fact that someone “feels negative” about guns after a terrorist attack (assuming we’re talking about an attack involving guns, as opposed to, say, a pressure cooker bomb) doesn’t tell you very much, really. I feel pretty negative about cars after a huge, deadly accident. But I still love my car. If you catch my drift.
Notice that the question about mass public shootings assumes that they’ve increased. They haven’t. (Even The Washington Post and the New York Times have grudgingly admitted this.) Equally, the survey didn’t state the answers as the primary reason for mass shootings. There were bound to be overlapping answers.
Here’s the rest of the data, regarding the last five years:
- 18% of women have become more interested in owning a gun
- 18% of women have become less interested in owning a gun
- 17% of women have shot a gun for any reason
- 13% of women have gone shooting at a shooting range
- 5% of women have attended a gun show or expo
- 5% of women have given or received a gun as a gift
- 4% of women have gone hunting with a gun
- 4% of women have gotten a gun for the first time
- 4% of women have witnessed gun violence or the threat of it in person
- 3% of women have obtained one or more guns in addition to those they already owned
- 2% of women have lobbied for gun rights
There’s a lot of info there. My takeaway: women aren’t active in the shooting sports, hunting and self-defense training. There’s a market there, folks. And the more active women become with firearms, the safer our gun rights will be.
Only 56% of women who own a gun think having it makes them safer? Does that mean that 47% think it makes them less safe? Then why the hell do they own one?!
It could be that their domestic partner owns a gun, but that they aren’t comfortable with them…
Could also be they are owned for sporting purposes or even just fun.
I don’t care how fun something is, if I genuinely thought it posed a significant safety hazard for me, I wouldn’t own it. Rattlesnakes and liquid mercury are incredible toys, but there’s a reason I don’t have either in a box in my closet.
I remember playing with liquid mercury in junior high science class. I don’t think it effected me at all. In fact, I remember playing with liquid mercury in junior high science class.
They may have one in the house because their partner has one. They or their partner may have a gun for non defense reasons ( hunting collecting etc).
Also just because it doesn’t make them feel after does not mean it makes them feel less safe. It may be that the women asked live in nice secure areas and simply feel safe already with or without a fire arm.
The question they should have asked was ” if you new that a serial rapist was planning to rape and murder you and your daughter , would you want reg option of carrying a gun?”
As with all surveys, It all depends on how you ask the question.
How about this one:
After the Democrats repeal the Second Amendment and the police come to confiscate your guns and throw you in jail if you do not comply, will you open the door to let them in or do something else? /;-)
I can guarantee that approach will result in at least one firearm death, and I don’t intend for the first to be me.
I take surveys conducted by anti-gun media organizations with a grain of salt. Sort of like global warming stats by scientists who get government grants to study global warming. What do you think they are going to say?
“30 Helens agree: if you desire peace, prepare for war”
And all of The Daves I Know agree with that.
They didn’t ask MY wife…WHO the heck answers polls like this???
At a chl class this weekend my class had 20 people and 10 were women. 1 Asian woman, 3 African American men, 5 African American women and the rest were ofwgs. Age range seemed to be mainly 40s and 50s with two probably in 60s both white men and 5 of us myself included in our 60s. This was one of 4 classes that day and it was Valentine’s day weekend. Usually the classes are around 60 people each according to the instructors. Not even a dent in the population of dfw but once the class is done i would think the chl holder would be a gun owner and keep thier licensing up for most of thier life. Plus thier kids will more than likely to be comfortable with guns. Seems we are gaining ground and should focus on bringing people with no experience with guns into the fold.
Meta: “MC decided to hammer” – nice callback to the 80s.
I wonder when Hemenway will retire and stop this nonsense.
Oh! So that’s what that spot on the wall is. It’s where that “joke” hit when it went right over my head! Thanks.
I may be going out on a limb here, but I feel pretty confident about this one:
ALL of anti-gun women’s groups share basically one, and only one thing, in common….bad hormones. My term, you might say. Simply put, they ALL appeal, by way of emotion, to a woman’s most base impulses while simultaneously conducting a war on men for supposedly oppressing them all these centuries. That alone is enough to turn off just about half the women they try and reach out to, because a surprising percentage of women actually think with their brains instead of their uh, boobs.
I’ve often said that the more they ‘demand’ in terms of gun control, the more they damage women’s rights by the day, and it’s completely true. But the true believers/haters are just too blinded to realize it.
Tom
My daughter owns two handguns, my son a handgun and a shotgun (thanks Dad!), but they are still young. My daughter will be getting her CCW this spring. My wife hates guns, but tolerates mine because she realizes that being totally disabled she is a target who cannot defend herself. So I’d have to say that all three agree that having a gun in the house makes them feel safer.
Can’t have Cosmopolitan of Marie Claire without a “C” word.
The spelling would be ‘Kosmopolitan’ in “Mother Russia”…
“◾12 percent of American women own a gun themselves. 33 percent of men do.”
It really is amazing how few people think to ask how the billy hell they think they know that, and I don’t care who “they” turn out to be. If it is FBI stats, then it is meaningless unless you believe the FBI is ignoring federal law prohibiting keeping such records on pain of felony conviction. Polls? I do not answer them truthfully, do you? *WHERE* did those numbers come from? We might find out if the powers that be would answer this question; I have bought my bride several firearms, according to this “statistic”, do I own them or does she?
I have bought my bride several firearms.
STRAW MAN! you should be prosecuted to fullest extent of the law!
On a serious note. I bought my wife as ar from academy right before christmas. Legal? not legal? I guess I lied on the 4473 since I believe there is a question on there about whether or not I’m buying for someone else. Honestly I could could care less, but it would be nice to not be committing a felony every time I wish to surprise my wife with a firearm.
A Straw Man purchase is only if you know the intended recipient can’t otherwise pass a background check. If you wife can buy them on her own then you are just buying her a gift.
Well, 1% of 157000000 is still 1mill and a half DGUs in 5 years by women in America. Even at less than that, it still outweighs murders and suicides! Holy cow!
At 1 half of 1% of approx 150 million women using a gun in self defense every 5th year that would be 150k per year. Let’s just say 1 person out of the 2000 answered yes to the DGU witching the last five years. That would still average 15k DGUs a year. While this is certainly more than the 9-10 thousand gun homicides ( excluding suicide )each year, we have to remember women make up only half the population and are a third less likely to have a gun in the first place. Assuming those numbers held true for men it would be 30k per year and assuming 3 times gu owner ship it would be closer to 60k per year. And this is assuming that only 1 person out of the 2000 answered yes. It could actually be a number 18 times as high and still be under 1%. If three women answers yes then we are talking about 45k DGUs per year for women and between 90k and 170k for men and woman. The antis sure would not like that number.
Best I can figure from the DOJ in 2011 ( last complete stats) there where a combined number of agrivated assault and homicide (non suicide) of around 155k committed with fire arms.so any number above that would certainly further the arguments for armed civilians. However I might add that while the argument that an assault is more likely to be fatal if committed with a firearm has merit, the argument that it is more likely to be committed at all is dubious at best. Although some criminals are no doubt emboldened by having a gun, many more are likely deterred by the possibility of an armed victim. And while a victim of a beating or stabbing may be more likely to survive , he was still assaulted. .of course a defensive gun use, by its very nature would have prevented an assault.
“It is rare for a woman to be threatened with a gun—just one percent of women report having been threatened with a gun in the last five years. Even fewer women—less than one percent—report having used a gun in self-defense in the last five years.”
I love this bit of parsing. Violent crime is near all time lows in non-urban environments so naturally most humans would not even be threatened, let alone further narrowed down to threatened with a gun. I guess Marie Carie doesn’t think assailants use knives, blunt force weapons or overwhelming size on anyone.
It sure seems like they wanted a number, any low number to push a narrative that women don’t need to buy guns for self protection. Blind luck is on their sides.
I would like to know the demographics of this poll. My bet is they did not poll anyone in “flyover” country. What do you want to bet the poll was placed in their own magazine? Sure is not representative of the women I know.
My women friends are not gentle little cupcakes, afraid of their own shadow, My friends are prepared for if/when something goes bump in the night.
This is an improvement, if the data is real, folks.
20+ years ago, the numbers were nowhere near this good.
“20+ years ago, the numbers were nowhere near this good.”
I can’t recall where I heard it, but the numbers now are twice the acceptance as back then, and accelerating.
I’m also convinced that the ‘Current Occupant, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.’ is a large part of *why* that’s happening, the community is realizing Obama hasn’t had their best interests in mind…
“It is rare for a woman to be threatened with a gun—just one percent of women report having been threatened with a gun in the last five years.”
Because a woman needs a gun *only* if she is threatened *with a gun.* Right?
Idiots.
I think might use that stat against them when they start yammering about how we need guncontrol to protect women against men with guns. If it is a rare occurrence, it isn’t the threat that they are making it out to be.
I’m convinced that women are predisposed to not answer questions on their firearm ownership truthfully, due to female cultural issues that they fear may ostracize them with other women…
There is a lot of truth to that. I know a few women who went to ivy league schools and owned guns and would never in a million years admit to it.
Yep!
They own them, but they will vote to have that right taken from the rest of us.
Whoa this is way to complicated for me to jump in. I carry to protect myself and my wife. Beyond that I am Obtuse. Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask myself. “How can I be so obtuse?”. Other nights I wonder where I would fit in the survey results. Most nights I ponder the realization I should have been in the employ of a beautiful woman when I worked. Either armed or unarmed but beautiful.
Women should have access to all the guns they want. Statically women commit less than 10% of homicides with or without a gun. They’re the safest group to have firearms in the first place. Why limit them? Is Marie Claire promoting rape culture by not allowing women to defend themselves? I guess they feel it’s superior to piss your pants if someone attempts to rape you instead of making the rapist pisses his pants when you draw your weapon.
74 percent of women believe that men and women have different mindsets about guns.
And 100% of men think that if women could wear guns on their feet, they’d own a closet full of them.
A friend of mine, in his 60s and not hurting for money, decided to buy the Corvette he always wanted. His wife objected, asking, “Why do you want a Corvette?” He ended the discussion with the reply, “You’re right. I don’t need a Corvette any more than you need another pair of shoes.” He now drives his Corvette.
Not always a bad thing when a wife veto the sports car buy. I wanted a Solstice coupe last new model Pontiac released before being murdered in the street so Buicks could live on and sold in China. I found one I wanted, a couple of states away. Was told a man was bringing his wife in that evening to look at it, they would call to let me know to fuel up truck or keep looking. I got the call about 6pm. She had killed his dream in middle of the showroom.
I got back home, pulled it out of the trailer. My wife said she wanted to drive it. Drove around 3 blocks, came back home, handed me the keys, said she would not drive it again. 😀 That was 6 years ago so far so good.
I’m a woman and I have more than 1 gun, so I make the typical whatever percent they claim. I took the time to get trained so that I feel comfortable carrying a weapon in public. Now it’s like getting ready to go somewhere. If I am concealed carrying I am almost always carrying pepper spray, a knife and if I have my purse a flashlight. My gun is my last line of defense. I hope I never have to use it in real life, but I have it if needed. And no, I don’t want to be lectured on guns in the home make women less safe, etc etc. That’s just baloney.
Speaking as a trans woman, I own 6 guns, and every single one has it’s purpose, and all of them are for my sake. My Mosin gets me my food, my model 88 Maverick protects me in my house. My Glock 23 defends me when I’m traveling over the road, and my CZ-p09 Duty protects me when i’m walking places. My Charter Arm 73820 protects me anywhere they say I have no right to defend myself, and my AR-15 protects me from my government turning tyrannical. Oh, and they all defend me from Zombies.
Good for you! I love seeing lots of diversity in the shooting community. It’s one way to insure that our civil rights to keep and bear arms can never be taken away.
I’ll admit that I’m pretty new to things in terms of actually owning a firearm, and for the longest time I was on the fence about gun control, (Three guesses where I am now, and the first two don’t count.) Till one of my friends was very brutally attacked out in cali. Her pepperspray canister only had enough to stop one of the guys who decided to attack her because she was trans. Since then, I am one hundred percent in favor of gun rights, and it’s why even though it tends to be a lot easier to get the kind of care I need out there, I will -never- live in that state.
My wife had only one gun for maybe two months. Then Christmas came and she had two, the second being an M&P15 Sport. Then the Walther CCP came out a a couple months later she had 3. As a household we went from 0 to 7 in less than a a year.
When I asked her about us getting concealed carry permits, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. She doesn’t mind if I buy more guns as long I get her something too. And since we both have CCH permits I can buy a gun for her without running afoul of straw purchaser laws.
I’m not sure who they are surveying. Maybe they deliberately pick a disproportionate number of California liberals or Canadian transplants.
I have taught three women to shoot in the last six years. Two of them are now owners. I have three more that want to learn, one of which because she wants to own. Contrast that to introducing only 1 “new” male shooter and one more that wants to in the same time frame. As far as new shooters go I am seeing a lot more females personally. This is a good thing.
My civil rights are not subject to disposition by polling stats. If these leftist pukes don’t like the 2nd Amendment, let them follow the Constitutional process to amend it.
We’re a bunch of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your website provided us with valuable info to work on.
You have done a formidable process and our entire group will
probably be thankful to you.
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