Women and Guns: Shooting the Messenger?
Women and guns is a topic that usually draws a crowd. But a satirical suggestion that all women should be armed drew a shot across the bow of a blog and set off a fresh debate about gun control.
The blog, The Moral of the Story, by New York Times ethics writer Randy Cohen a case that women are vastly more responsible than men when it comes to guns. According to Justice Department statistics, women were responsible for only 8.7% of gun homicides, while men perpetrated 91.3%.
With that enormous discrepancy between the sexes, Cohen posited the following in jest: “I propose curbing gun violence not by further restricting the availability of guns, but by expanding and reorienting it. Men would still be forbidden to walk the streets armed, in accordance with current laws, but women would be required to carry pistols in plain sight whenever they are out and about.”
“Feminizing gun ownership,” Cohen wrote, “could ultimately reduce its appeal to men, making gun-toting as unmasculine as carrying a purse.”
Bang. The comments came shooting in. “Brilliant,” wrote one reader. “Clearly it is men who cannot be trusted to make sound, reasoned decisions, not women.” Another wrote, “Paint the guns bright pink too. This will insure that tough young men will not steal them since it proves that they stole them from a chick.”
Other comments took different aim. “Arming a single class of citizens is foolish in all regards,” said one. “As the quote goes, ‘I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.’” What may be effective pragmatically “would be circumvented by the U. S. Constitution: Equal protection of the law,” noted another. And this: “This isn’t gender equality; it’s sexism.”
Perhaps the most insightful comment was “Is this a joke?” Well, yes, Cohen fessed up in a follow-up. “I tried to make it a good one, a way to see the question afresh.” But the disclosure left some readers up in arms about the use of satire in a discussion of gun control. “I don’t find this topic funny,” wrote one. “How sad it is that a NYT blogger would turn an issue of women’s personal safety into a big droll satiric joke,” said another. And there was this shoot-the-messenger response: “The discussion of ethics is too important to be left to a comedy writer.”
Tell us what you think: Are women more responsible than men when it comes to guns? In discussions about serious topics like gun control, is the use of satire irresponsible?
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Women and Guns
Women are not more responsible than men when it comes to guns. Those states having concealed carry laws entrust men and women who have demonstrated the ability to use a firearm accurately and responsibly are safer states for their citizens.
When a potential criminal doesn’t know if a potential mark is – or is not – carrying a concealed weapon, the temptation to commit a violert crime on the mark is reduced.
Satire is fine when discussing either serious or nonserious topics.
Jack Coupal | 7 months, 1 week ago
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the use of guns
i think that in the wrong hands that a male or female can be responsble for using a gun the wrong way that its purpose was for (which no1 really knows to this day) there is a posabilty that you or any1 else could kill some1 no matter what gender you me personily a girl.
lauren | 6 months, 4 weeks ago
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help when you need it most!
Lets be honest about this the police are investigators not your personal body guard, they can’t sit in your car or your home stop dreaming, you had better learn how to carry and use a gun. If you think taking guns away form law-abiding citizens is going to make you safe you better think again. I would rather have people that have been trained and licensed after a background check than all these kids running around like wild animals with guns.
Bud Bowen
Lutz, Florida
C T Bowen | 6 months, 4 weeks ago
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Responsible Gun Ownership Always Works-Without Fai
Good site, very civil but people say what’s on their minds. My two bits are these; many studies over the years involving interviews with criminals always shows that criminals tend to go where gun ownership is least, and where concealed or open carry are limited or nonexistent. It’s quite logical, no one, including criminals want to be shot. Logically, they tend toward victims unlikely to be armed, makes perfect sense. Therefore, it only makes sense that anyone who wants should carry, and should be able to anywhere in the country. As a concealed carry permit holder for many years in two states, the FBI can easily trace me if I’m bad, like anyone else holding those permits, and permit holders’ crime rate is so low it barely registers.
Robert Thomas | 6 months, 3 weeks ago
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They should not be banned
guns should not be banned because they are awesome and the world revolves around them. i like bacon.
Slammey | 6 months, 1 week ago
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The right to protect yourself
No offense to the police departments everywhere but, they can’t be everywhere and are usually not where the crime is happening. In the time it takes to contact the wait for the response the crime has been committed and the outcome is over. Being armed, whether man or woman gives you the element of suprise against your attacker who himself/herself does not to be shot. But I strongly am in favor of extensive classes and training for any citizen that wants to carry a firearm at their own cost. Remember: the gun does not kill it’s the person holding it so….. THINK
Frank Hobar | 5 months, 3 weeks ago
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I Want My Guns
I think that the gun registration should be a little bit more harder. There should be a very good back ground. I want to keep my guns and be able to buy more because shooting guns is a hobby of mine, and a want my protection. Most criminals that use guns in their crimes don’t even have them registered, so the government doesn’t know they have them and can’t trace them. If the government came taking away guns they would only be getting the ones they know about which would be the ones of innocent people who registered their gun. If the government did this then the criminals will still have their guns and innocent people won’t have any for protection which means more criminals are going to commit more crimes because it would be like taking candy from a baby. I’ll tell you all one thing, the government can have my guns when they pry them from my cold dead fingers.
Justin Bryant | 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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All guns are dangerous
I am afraid of all guns. Carried by men, carried by women – I am scared of all guns. My husband carries a gun, and it scares me. I would feel much safer if guns were illegal in this country – carried only by law enforcement officers, who would take away any and all guns from anyone and everyone else.
Of course, I know that is never going to happen. My husband, for example, is a lifelong member of the NRA and will never surrender his right to carry a gun.
But just as much as he believes in the right to bear arms, I still believe that guns – any guns – make the world a more dangerous place.
I do think it should be more onerous to own a gun. In the same way that people who drive cars must have a driver’s licence and register their cars and carry proof of accident insurance, I think gun owners should have to have a licence (not just for concealed carry, but for carrying of any kind) and register their guns and pay into an insurance pool to cover the accidental damage those guns may do (including damage done by stolen guns, in particular; I am appalled when I see people who have guns in their house or in their car that are not kept in a gun safe).
Of course I know many people will disagree, vociferously… but their shouting will not change the fact that there are many people who believe there are too many guns in this country and that those guns are far too easy to get.
Laura Gibbs | 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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Citizen
Guns should be in the hands of the military, police officers, and shot guns for game hunters. Nobody should be able to purchase or sell Uzi’s and other military guns and machinery.
Beverly Williams | 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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Guns
Personally, I think that guns should be legal in all states, in all situations. yes, crime with guns is bad but if we aren’t allowed to have guns people couldn’t defend themselves from the criminals out there that carry guns to kill people, not to defend themselves. Actually I think that more people should carry guns, because there are crimes happening out there in the big city that the cops can’t make it to in time. When that happens people get killed! and if they had guns to defend themselves with they might would have lived! If congress passes anymore laws about guns, or if Obama tries to pass anymore laws about handguns, or automatic, or simi automatic weapons, we will all be vulnerableto the criminals out there that do have them because they won’t have trouble geting weapons they can and will get them no matter what laws we pass trying to band them!
Leon Micheal Smith | 5 months, 2 weeks ago
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