Fairfax, VA -(AmmoLand.com)- Anti-gun activist Leah Gunn Barrett, the executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, must have never read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Breitbart reports that on Al Jazeera TV, Barrett said that women shouldn’t be allowed to carry firearms for protection on college campuses, on the grounds that, “Women are not physically powerful like men are. A gun could easily be turned on the woman, and it is frequently.”
Point of fact, criminologist Gary Kleck’s analysis of National Crime Victimization Survey data found that, “[a]t most, 1% of DGUs [defensive gun uses] resulted in the offender taking a gun away from the victim.”
However, Kleck noted, this, “did not necessarily involve the offender snatching a gun out of the victim’s hands. Instead, a burglar might, for example, have been leaving a home with one of the household’s guns when a resident attempted to stop him using another household gun.” Kleck also found, “rape victims using armed resistance were less likely to have the rape completed against them than victims using any other mode of resistance.”
Barrett is, of course, more interested in opinion than in science. So we thought we would play along, to see how it turned out. We asked a good friend of ours, competitive shooter Carmen Lout, for her opinion about Barrett’s comment.
On the one hand, Carmen noted that, from the standpoint of physical strength, “women are perfectly able to operate and control firearms for self-defense.”
Carmen proved that point herself, during a 3-Gun Championship earlier this year, as shown in this video.
On the other hand, she also pointed out that, “the ability to use firearms for self-defense also depends on factors that have nothing to do with strength, things that are entirely knowledge-based and which, for that reason, women can perform as well as men.”
Since we knew the answer, we didn’t ask Carmen what she thought of Barrett’s ultimate opinion, namely, that no woman deserves the chance to even try to defend herself, that—as a leader of the anti-gun group now known as the Brady Campaign once said—if attacked, “put up no defense – give them (the criminals) what they want.”
Anti-gun activist Leah Gunn Barrett, the executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, must have never read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Breitbart reports that on Al Jazeera TV, Barrett said that women shouldn’t be allowed to carry firearms for protection on college campuses, on the grounds that, “Women are not physically powerful like men are. A gun could easily be turned on the woman, and it is frequently.”
About the NRA-ILA:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
For more information, please visit: www.nra.org. Be sure to follow the NRA on Facebook at NRA on Facebook and Twitter @NRA.
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Clark Kent, Thank you for pointing this out. Moreover, Congress has already passed legislation allowing women into combat. And as a retired veteran if I remember correctly, an M-16 is a little heavier than any concealed-carry firearm I’ve ever encountered. Ms. Barrett has a seriously dangerous case of stupidity and clearly lacks any concept of reality. What next, calling for a ban on women’s right to learn self defense skills as well? Stupid women like Barrett are an affront to women’s intelligence and an embarrassment to women in general. She needs to get back to her knitting and shut the-eff… Read more »
If women are unable to use firearms for self defense successfully why is the U.S. military pushing for women in combat roles?
If women are too weak to defend themselves, even with the “equalizing force” of a gun, then they are truly shafted (excuse the pun). The only other alternative (which I’m sure Al Jazeera would find reasonable) is that women should only be able to go out in public with an armed male in attendance, to protect her should the need arise. Hmmmnnn…sounds a lot like Sharia Laws to me, but then what do I know? I’m just one of those annoying armed American Infidels!
How can some one be so anti-gun but be named Gunn and Barrett?