MS: Women, Police, and Firearms Safety

Women are becoming an important part of what is becoming known as American Gun Culture 2.0.   In American Gun Culture 1.0, the gun was primarily the province of men, used for hunting,  home defense, and defense of the community in time of war. 

In American Gun Culture 2.0, women are embracing the empowerment and independence that comes with the gun culture.  Fathers are teaching daughters how to shoot equally with sons.   Many women are finding that the joys of hunting transcend sexual stereotypes.    Target shooting and competition is supplementing and supplanting hunting.   Carrying outside the home is becoming as important as protection inside the home.   The political importance of firearms ownership is recognized and embraced.

Every firearms instructor that I talk to has the same experience  of teaching women to shoot: they do not have the macho baggage of the male ego and guns.   They listen.  They follow instructions.    On average, they make better students and fine shots.   This has been my personal experience as well.

While women are often less combative than men, and show a greater hesitancy in using deadly force, it all changes when you mention children.  A woman may claim that she would never shoot someone.   Ask her if she would shoot someone who threatens the rape and death of her child.   Then she confirms Kipling’s poem “The female of the species is more deadly than the male.”

As greater numbers of women are becoming gun owners, more police departments are offering training targeting women.  In Mississippi, the Picayune Police Department held its first Firearm Safety Course for women on Monday, 24 March, 2014.  The class was limited to 20 participants.  From the picayuneitem.com:  

Due to the high demand for the class, Capt. Carlisle will be holding five separate classes for 20 people each, in the upcoming weeks, and will be holding another registration upon completion of these classes.

Over a hundred women is a significant number when you consider that Picayune’s population is under 11,000.

John Lott says that the people who benefit the most from the spread of concealed carry permits are urban minority women.  

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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