Firearms Feminism

By Major Van Harl USAF Ret

Firearms Feminism
Firearms Feminism
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)-  According to the Webster’s II dictionary, feminism is defined as: a doctrine advocating for women the same rights granted men, as in political and economic status.

I for one think this is a good idea. My only child is a daughter and I want her to be successful in life based on how she prepares to go out into the working world to earn her way and be self supporting.

I do not want someone or some idea standing in her way telling her she is less of a citizen and therefore is expected to achieve less in life. The problem is hoping that things will be fair and equal is a nice idea but is not always the reality.

Physical violence is in most cases is not fair to anyone on the receiving end. I am six foot, one inch. I have owned firearms since I was in high school. I am a retired police officer and an Army trained Infantry officer. I still have 20-20 eye sight at my advancing age and I am still damned good with a handgun.

The issue is I am getting old and if four big guys decide to assault me in a surprise attack at a Wal-Mart parking lot I am going to lose. Now envision the 100 pound, highly educated woman assaulted in the same parking lot by the same four big men. She is also going to lose.

Give me even a few seconds warning and the access to a handgun and those four men are going to wish they had not gotten involved with me. Put that same firearm in the trained hands of the woman about to be assaulted, and I would suggest her outcome will be much better.

She may have some issues of PTSD after she had to use deadly force to keep herself safe from bodily harm. This PTSD is better than dealing with the PTSD because you were raped and beaten half to death.

The Colonel and her sister wanted to go to a quilting show. They decided I needed to drive them. Believe it or not, but in all my manly pursuits of outdoor hunting, camping, shooting guy-stuff I have a fondness for quilts. The effort and hours of work that goes into a quilt is not lost on me. So I agreed to drive as long as we could stop at the Gander Mountain and the Cabelas that were both on the way to the quilt show.

The Colonel and her sister have their concealed carry permits. Ammo is hard to find right now but the sister-in-law was all excited we found 9mm ammunition for her. I was able to pick up a 20ga shotgun for the daughter’s gun safe and we all gazed into the display cases and dreamed about what our next handgun would be.

Then we went into a Fleet-Farm supply store and I found myself helping a woman select the correct ammo she needed for a number of firearms she had at home. I don’t think she understood I did not work in the store. I was just please to find her in the ammo section getting prepared and was happy to help.

There are a lot more women in the gun stores now-a-days. I have watched women reading the side of an ammo box trying to figure out the correct type of bullet configuration to buy for their firearm. Women have always worked hard at being knowledgeable consumers, why not in the guns and ammo area of personal buying? Many are with the men in their lives but more and more the women are there by themselves buying firearms.

Nothing says equality like the word “no” to violence, coming out of the mouth of a female who has a firearm in her hands to back up her desire not to be harmed.

I have an old Air Force friend whose wife has serious arthritis problems in her hands. She however is determined to get her conceal carry permit and is working hard at finding a handgun she can carry and shoot. Now I must admit her husband is having a great time buying lots of new firearms for his bride, but even with her hand limitation issues she wants to be able to defend herself, pain or no pain in her fingers.

Very seldom is there fairness or equality in a crisis situation.
People get hurt and people suffer. Preparedness and the use of the correct tools do make the difference. Firearms feminism means having the right tool, for the job in time of violence. The small, the weak, the old, the injured and yes the female can protect themselves if they are ready, trained and have that tool and that tool is a firearm.

By the way the Colonel suggested the title for this column. Thirty years in the Air Force has trained her to be prepared.

Major Van Harl USAF Ret
[email protected]

Reading Assignment: Gun Women: Firearms and Feminism In Contemporary America

About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:
Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret. , is a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Now retired, these days he enjoys camping, traveling, volunteering with the Girl Scouts and writing. [email protected]

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Bill Baker

Problem is that if she gets a little PTSD from defending herself, the government will then take her guns away from her as unstable and if she ever needs them again….

Becker

Take your daughters hunting from the time they are young and teach them the same as you do your sons. This time will be better at teaching them than anything else. First take the time to teach them to hit a target. My father took about 5 minutes on that and then it was time for us to hunt. Years of hunting in the woods gave me confidence in combat that just shooting at paper could never have given me. I could be dropped into a forest anywhere in the world and I felt like I was home and had… Read more »