Check the facts
before making assumptions
I am writing to respond to Mick Briscoe’s letter to the editor (“Right to Bear Arms,” ODE, 10/20). Briscoe’s primary argument in defense of gun ownership was that women need guns to defend ourselves from rape. Here are some statistics regarding women, rape and handguns to counter that assumption:
* More than six out of every 10 rapes occur to children and adolescents under the age of 18. According to the Gun Control Act of 1968, persons must be at least 18 years of age to purchase a long gun and 21 years of age to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer.
* The risks of handgun ownership far outweigh the benefits. In 1992, for every one time a woman used a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense, 239 women were murdered in handgun homicides.
* Firearms were the weapons used in approximately seven out of every 10 murders committed in the United States in 1994. Nine out of 10 female victims were slain by a male. Twice as many women were shot and killed by their husbands or intimate acquaintances than were murdered by strangers using firearms, knives or any other means.
Guns ultimately do not keep women safe from sexual assault nor any other form of violence. I would ask that men in the gun rights movement who argue for those rights speak from their own experience. Using women’s fear of sexual assault to bolster your position is both manipulative and disrespectful.
Lori Brown
staff
ASUO Women’s Center