Guns and the Fairer Sex

American Women And Guns

April 15, 2013 by Sam Rolley 

PHOTOS.COM

A poll recently conducted by NBC and The Wall Street Journal suggests that lawmakers who are pushing tough gun-control initiatives have a more sympathetic audience among American women than men.

According to the poll, 65 percent of women in the United States are in favor of stronger gun-control provisions, compared to 45 percent of men. The results are in agreement with a separate poll recently conducted by Quinnipiac University that illustrated a respective 61 percent to 45 percent split.

Though female gun ownership in the United States is on the rise, the gender gap in the poll results likely comes as no surprise to gun enthusiasts, as men remain more likely to purchase firearms and use them recreationally.

In a recent National Journal article, an interviewee explained how the nature of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting may also have had an impact on women being more likely to support new gun laws.

“There’s a post-Newtown effect that, in particular, hit women, who were more likely to say that Newtown made them want to support stronger gun laws as a result,” Margie Omero, Purple Strategies’ managing director of research told the news outlet. “More women are concerned about a mass shooting in their community and the culture of violence, broadly speaking.”

Despite the gender gap over gun laws, vocal female 2^nd Amendment supporters are increasingly making efforts to educate American women about the benefits of gun ownership, particularly for the purpose of self-defense.

A recent article in Women & Guns urges women to:

Go public. Let your friends and coworkers know you are a gunowner. There is nothing belligerent about owning firearms. Rather, for years I have been advocating that women show that they own and use guns, because women are not threatening. It softens the face of the gunowner to the general public when they learn that the sweet little old ladies and the charming young women are part of that group that the media tries so hard to demonize.

Use social media. You can find lots of people and sites on Facebook (and other newer cooler places, I am sure). Share the information with your public friends. If you need a start go to me on Facebook and poach. (Caution: not all my friends, even my political friends, are gunnies. But I “like” many good gun sites.)

Educate yourself. Read everything you can, while you can. Nothing is harder to argue against than facts.

Write letters to the editor. Comment on the internet news sites. Short, to the point, correct spelling and no ranting! We want everyone who is on our side to make us proud. Nothing hurts the cause like a crazy advocate!

So even if more women support gun control than men for the moment, there are a growing number of female firearms advocates in the United States working to change that.