I own myself.
That is the fundamental principle underlying all of my strongest beliefs: I own myself.
It's why I'm pro-choice.
It's why I detest the drug war.
And it's why I'm pro-gun. Follow me for more beyond the jump.
RKBA is a DKos group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don't think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun. Some of us are extreme in our second amendment views (no licensing, no restrictions on small arms) and some of us are more moderate (licensing, restrictions on small arms.) Moderate or extreme, we hold one common belief: more gun control equals lost elections. We don't want a repeat of 1994. We are an inclusive group: if you see the Second Amendment as safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms individually, then come join us in our conversation. If you are against the right to keep and bear arms, come join our conversation. We look forward to seeing you, as long as you engage in a civil discussion. RKBA stands for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
I am a woman. I am not a particularly weak woman, nor a particularly strong one. Physically I am smack in the middle of the Bell curve, along with millions of other women. I have no martial arts training, again like most women. I am middle-aged, and a little chubby.
And if I were attacked by a man -- nearly any man -- I would be defenseless.
Like most women.
God made men and women. Samuel Colt made them equal.
Sam Colt patented the first revolver in 1836. Before that, no personal firearm was capable of more than two shots without reloading. He continued to develop and refine his firearm designs for the next twenty years, and built a marketing and manufacturing Goliath -- just in time for the Civil War, the transcontinental railroad, and the country's massive expansion West.
All of which left massive numbers of women suddenly without husbands, fathers, or adult sons to look after them or see to their protection. The Civil War alone killed 600,000 men and wounded a half million more. That's nearly four percent of the wartime population. A comparable loss today would be 6 million dead, five million wounded.
I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.
--Susan B. Anthony, 1871
It is not a coincidence that the women's suffrage movement, which had struggled to gain recognition and respect in the prewar years, began to find traction after the Civil War. It is not a coincidence that the first states and territories to grant women's suffrage -- Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho -- were Western states.
And I maintain that the ready availability of firearms had a great deal to do with the ability of women, in that era, to live independently.
A firearm is both a defensive and offensive tool. It can serve its defensive purpose -- and indeed, usually does -- without ever being fired. The FBI estimates that there are between 1.5 and 2 million defensive uses of firearms every year. The vast majority of these defensive uses occur without a trigger being pulled -- which is why outfits like the Violence Policy Center focus only on "defensive uses" that actually end with somebody being shot, because then they can pretend that defensive use almost never happens.
For every time in 1997 that a civilian used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 43 people lost their lives in handgun homicides alone.
-- Violence Policy Center, "Handgun Ban Fact Sheet."
See the dishonesty there?
I have often heard the argument that a gun is useless against an armed attacker, because his gun is already out and he's prepared to use his. He has the drop on you. Implicit in this argument is that an armed attacker -- that is, armed with a firearm -- is the only kind to be concerned about.
Like so many other things in this society, that argument just assumes that everyone either is a man, or is attached to one. Addressed to a woman, that argument makes no sense.
The assumption that only attacks with guns matter is an assumption based in the patriarchy. It's an assumption that any normal person can defend himself -- note well, himself -- against an unarmed attacker. Because men are the default assumption of "normal" in patriarchy. But without a gun, nearly all women and many men are defenseless against a purely physical assault. And purely physical assaults -- assaults with no weapon, or a weapon other than a gun -- are much, much more common than assaults with a gun.
- When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
According to the FBI, handguns are used in less than 1 in 5 assaults. (19.3% of offenses in 2004, compared to fists/feet at 26.6% and knives at 18.6%. "Other" weapon was used in 35.6%.)
But wait, you protest, if a handgun is used, it's going to turn into a MURDER, not an assault. Okay. Fair point. So let's combine the two into overall "attacks," which is really the relevant criterion anyway -- we don't want the analysis to turn on the fortuitous circumstance of whether somebody survived the attack.
There were 16,137 murders in the US in 2004, of which 70.3% were committed with firearms. That gives us 11,344 murders-by-gun. Of that number, 77.9% involved handguns rather than rifles or shotguns. So we have 8,837 murders-by-handgun in 2004. Other weapons accounted for 26.1% of murders (I am excluding things like poison and explosives, which accounted for 3.6%. Those can't be defended against.) So other weapons accounted for 4,212 murders.
There were 854,911 aggravated assaults in the US in 2004, of which handguns were used in only 164,998. ALL 689,913 other aggravated assaults were committed by knives, fists, tire irons, fireplace pokers, and so on.
If you add the handgun murders to the handgun agg assaults you get 173,835 violent attacks by handgun.
Add the "other weapon" murders to the "other weapon" agg assaults, and you get 694,125 violent attacks by "other weapons."
In other words, you are 3.99 times (can I round up and say 4 times?) more likely to be attacked with a weapon that is NOT a gun. And remember, these are aggravated assaults, not simple battery.
If I own myself, I have the right to defend myself. As a woman, the only realistic defense involves either (a) years of intense training, dedicated practice, and daily workouts, or (b) a gun. And once you're past a certain age? Strike (a).
Note that I have specifically NOT included the statistics for rape. Most rapes are not committed with a firearm.
Cites:
FBI Assault Stats for 2004
FBI Stats for Murder in 2004
I understand the emotional argument that says, Ridding ourselves of all guns will reduce the death rate, so it's a good thing to do. Full stop. But not only is it a fantasy -- there are millions of guns in this country, and even if they disappeared overnight, it's not hard to make more -- it also treats individuals as disposable commodities. It says to me that I must be prevented from defending myself, for the greater good.
It tells me to lie down and take it.
I can't do that. I can't accept that.
I own myself. And I will by God defend what I own.