In my post “Can Clinton and Obama Talk About the Issues not About Racism?” (on my wordpress blog) the user Kip commented “‘Scuse me, you’re a woman, and you’re AGAINST gun control?“
This seems both stereotypical and weird to me. I have been a member of both a local shooting team and the Massachusetts State Smallbore Rifle team for the last 4 years.
When I started with Taunton Rifle and Pistol Club there were 4 girls out of 16 people or 25%. When I stopped going frequently at the end of the summer there was 5 girls out of 12 people or 42%.
In the state team when I started the state team was 2 girls out of 12 people or 17%. Now there are 4 girls out of 10 people or 40%.
In both cases this shows an increasing number of females learning to shoot and participating in firearms related activities. This follows with NSSF research that says more women are joining into firearms related activities such as hunting and target shooting between 2001 and 2005.
Maybe it’s just me but I feel safer with a firearm. If someone is going to commit a crime against me whether it be burglary, rape, etc. or it’s a situation of my life or there is at least with a gun I can protect my life and the lives of the people I care about. Without a gun very few women, including myself, would have the ability to stand up against a man just because of the sheer size and strength difference between the sexes.
Even gun-hating Rosie O’Donnell feels safer with a firearm, which is after all why her body guards have one to protect her and her kids. In May 2000 she even said, “I don’t personally own a gun, but if you are qualified, licensed and registered, I have no problem.”
I’ve always had guns around. And ever since I have become more active in the gun-owning community I have seen an increase of women getting involved. Granted gun ownership is still dominated by men but more women are becoming involved and helping to break a stereotype that all women must be anti gun.
For a country that has spent the last 50+ years trying to stop discrimination based on sex and race, stereotypes, like the one that women are anti-gun, inhibit true equality. As long as people see an activity specifically as race or gender based, there will be no true equality.
People who make the choice to do something that differs from the stereotypical role get looked down upon (this happened to several of the girls I shoot with, including myself) by society. Considering how much work has been done to give everyone equal freedoms, a lot more work still needs to be done. In the eyes of the government, "equality" has been achieved, but in the eyes of the average US citizen, there is still a division between the sexes.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Bravo! Wonderful blog. I know a lot of women who buy into the sterotype, one of my close friend does.
I would have smacked Kip for being a dumbass, lol.