Women and Guns

On my way to FMF this morning, flipping through the Express, I came across the article “Bullet, Gun Sales on Record Pace.” According to the article, firearm sales skyrocketed around the time Obama was sworn into office.

Last year alone, bullet sales at US gun shops soared to the equivalent of about 38 bullets PER PERSON. (I know I didn't buy any, so I'm assuming someone is more than making up for me....) When I looked around me, I realized that if every person on the crowded metro represented 38 bullets, if there were about 300 people on the train, we'd have a collective 11,400 bullets! Wow.

From a feminist prospective, what does all of this mean ? What is the relationship like between women and guns?

In 2005, Amnesty International released a 76-page report in in conjunction with the International Action Network on Small Arms, and Oxfam International called “The Impact of Guns On Women’s Lives.” The report examines issues like armed violence against women in the home, gangs, gun use by gangs, and gender. Click here to check it out!

If you don’t have time to peruse all 76 pages, here are a few highlights:

· Access to firearms increases the risk of intimate partner homicide more than five times more than in instance where there are no weapons, according to a recent study. In addition, abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners. (Family Violence Prevention Fund Fact Sheet)

· In 2002, 54% of female homicide victims were shot and killed with a gun. (Family Violence Prevention Fund Fact Sheet)

· Having a gun in the home increases the overall risk of someone in the household being murdered by 41%; but for women in particular the risk was nearly tripled (an increase of 272 percent) (“Impact of Guns On Women’s Lives”)

· Between 1995, when Canada tightened its gun laws, and 2003, the overall gun murder rate dropped by 15%, while the gun homicide rate for women dropped by 40% (“Impact of Guns on Women’s Lives”)

The Chicago CBS 2 News site recently discussed the increasing number of women who own guns. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 48%, almost half, of people taking their first handgun seminars this year are women. Women quoted in the article say that they believe having a gun will protect them against being raped or mugged. Generally speaking, women who do own guns are more responsible with them than men; Department of Justice figures show that between 1976 and 2005, 91.3 percent of gun homicides were committed by men, and only 8.7 by women.

What do you think? Are guns worth the risk?

Photo Credit: Barjack from flickr.com

FMF staff meets the great Gloria Steinem

Upon graduating college, a longtime friend said "this is a favorite book of mine, I wanted to give it to someone who I thought would appreciate it" and then gave me Gloria Steinem’s Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. She couldn't have been more right. I finished the collection of articles in a heartbeat, never putting it down, reading it on my commute, my walk to work, my lunch hour, etc... It forced me to evaluate the various facets of feminism past, present and future and my role in them.

Three years later, I’m here at the Feminist Majority, doing what I love and getting the privilege of sitting in on the Women, Money, Power Summit’s "Power Luncheon Celebrating Gloria Steinem." The luncheon included moving introductions from FM powerhouses like Kathy Spillar, Peg Yorkin and Eleanor Smeal, as well as an encouraging speech by the energetic co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, Dolores Huerta.

Following Ms. Huerta's speech, which reminded attendees of their personal political potential and the power of “si se puede/yes we can," came a number of selected Ms. magazine letters, read by volunteers of all ages, to Gloria Steinem. Each letter poured with gratitude for Gloria's courage, inspirational activism and feminist voice.

When it was Gloria's turn to speak, it quickly became evident why she is at the top of the pack. She not only spoke on women's rights, particularly concerning the current health care debate, but then powered through to the next issue by talking about gun control. Her sincere warmth, wit and doggedness in constantly challenging society lived up to her legend.

When meeting her (where my mature self turned into a 12 year old *nsync/jonas brother fan, pick your poison depending on your age bracket,) she, without being asked, told me, "There is no such thing as 'should do.' You shouldn't have to do anything. Go with your heart."

Per Gloria, I'm signing off this blog entry with the phrase "No home is safe with a gun."

Can we gender gun control?

Is violence related to gender? Are men more likely to use guns than women? New York Times writer Randy Cohen attempts to answer these questions in his recent edition of The Ethicist. Gun control is a hot issue now, and he thinks that he has found the answer. (Warning, there is definetly some saracasm ahead of you!) Just give guns to women! After all, women are passive creatures, guided by a moral compass that men simply don’t have, probably because they are juiced up on testosterone. Can you say “essentialism” with me? Not that long ago, women were considered to be morally superior and innocent, so they were kept inside the home, far away from the dirty, dangerous world.

I think my favorite part about Cohen’s piece was that paragraph where he argued that letting women be in charge of guns would make firearms less attractive to men, just like certain occupations. Good call. Instead of trying to fight sexism, let’s just use it for “good” reasons. Why didn’t we think of this before? Anything that’s attractive to men, let’s just pump a few women into the system, and make it unattractive. Think of all the money we could divert to other sources if women took over the NFL!

Oh wait, in my zeal for using women as tools to destroy all that men love, I forgot that sexism means the oppression of one gender by another gender for a purpose. There is simply no good reason for it. As much as part of me likes the idea of women ruling the world, I don’t know if banning men from owning firearms is going to make them less likely to commit violent acts.