UP IN ARMS
   By Kathryn Casey            
       
   Additional reporting by Erica Lumiere.              
   Kathryn Casey is a contributing editor of Ladies' Home Journal.             
   
     
   Millions of women own guns -- and millions of other women think that's      
   wrong. Read this report, and decide for yourself.   
   
   
       
   Susan Elliott[*] was so worried about becoming a victim of violent crime,   
   she got a loaded handgun from a friend. Days later, she used it on a        
   would-be rapist who had knocked her unconscious, then dragged her into her  
   car to assault her: Coming to, she fumbled under the front seat, pulled out 
   the gun she had hidden there, then rolled over and fired at her attacker.   
       
   Once upon a time, Susan wondered whether she could shoot to kill, but when  
   the moment came she didn't hesitate. "You do what you have to do. I regret  
   that he's dead, but he isn't going to hurt me anymore--or anyone else," she 
   says.                       
       
   Like Susan, millions of women today--whether or not they've been victims of 
   crime--believe that safety resides in the barrel of a gun. The National     
   Rifle Association (NRA) estimates that between twelve and twenty million    
   women own some type of firearm. And in popular culture, images of           
   pistol-packin' women who take the law into their own hands have become      
   crowd-pleasers: Think of Susan Sarandon in Thelma & Louise, or Linda        
   Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.             
       
   Some other signs of the times: Gun companies now actively pursue women as   
   customers, with mother-and-child ads bearing slogans like "Self-protection  
   is more than your right . . . it's your responsibility." Smith & Wesson, the
   world's largest gun manufacturer, markets the LadySmith line, with smaller, 
   narrower grips designed for women's hands, as does Colt's Manufacturing Co. 
   with its Lady Colt products. Specialty stores with catchy names like Lady B 
   Safe offer weapons as well as gun-friendly purses, videos and books.        
       
   And in the wake of national wariness about the perceived intrusiveness of   
   government, citizens--including many women--are raising their voices to     
   support gun ownership as a basic freedom. In a recent U.S. News and 'World  
   Report poll, 75 percent of the voters surveyed said they believe the        
   Constitution guarantees them the right to have a gun.                       
       
   Yet at the same time, a recent Harris survey found that more than half of  
   all Americans--and 64 percent of women--support a near-total ban on         
   handguns. So strong is this grassroots sentiment that when Ladies' Home     
   Journal ran a Colt ad in a regional edition in July 1992, the magazine      
   received hundreds of protest letters. And in late 1993, Congress passed the 
   Brady bill--now a law--a controversial measure that requires a waiting      
   period of up to five days to run a background check before a handgun can be 
   sold.                       
       
   The fight for that legislation was spearheaded by a woman, Sarah Brady,     
   whose husband was seriously wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on    
   then-President Ronald Reagan.                       
       
   Such are the paradoxes of the women-and-guns controversy. Is it safer to    
   disarm the robbers, rapists and killers or to allow women to protect        
   themselves against them? Should women decide whether to own a gun--or       
   guns--or should the government limit the number and type of weapons citizens
   can possess? The issue has turned into an ongoing national debate.          
       
   Is it right to bear arms?   
     
   At the heart of the battle is the question of whether gun ownership is an   
   inviolable right or a privilege. Anti-gun-control organizations--of which   
   the NRA is the best-known--passionately and repeatedly invoke the Second    
   Amendment. They also fight against the Brady law on the grounds that the    
   waiting period for purchasing a firearm hinders law-abiding citizens, but   
   not many criminals. Outlaw guns, goes the argument, and only outlaws will   
   own guns.                   
       
   But gun-control advocates point out that in fact, in the first year the     
   Brady law took effect, 41,000 persons not allowed to own guns (2.5 percent  
   of all gun applicants) were foiled by background checks. As for the         
   Constitutional defense, they say our Founding Fathers never intended to     
   guarantee a gun in every home. "If guns kept us safe, we'd be the safest    
   nation on earth," Sarah Brady says. "But they don't, and we're not."        
       
   The other underlying issue in the fight over gun control is related to the  
   current concern among some citizens about the government's use and abuse of 
   power. While very few Americans share the militia movement's paranoia about 
   a government plot for a "New World Order," a recent CNN/Time magazine poll  
   reveals a sentiment of fear. In that poll, taken in April after the Oklahoma
   City bombing, 52 percent of respondents said the government is so powerful  
   that it poses a threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.     
       
   Like abortion, the gun-control issue has become a litmus test for voters.   
   The NRA--which has become increasingly political as the government has      
   gotten more involved in gun control--supports political candidates who back 
   gun rights. Its influence is evident: A majority of NRA-backed 
   representatives was elected to the House last November. Part of their agenda
   is the reversal of President Clinton's 1994 assault-weapons ban.            
       
   The upcoming Presidential elections will only intensify the focus on guns   
   and increase the debate. "This is an issue that hits home to everybody,"    
   says Becky Cain, national president of The League of Women Voters, which    
   backs gun control. "The citizens have asked for something to be done, and if
   the government and politicians do not share that concern, we'll see people  
   reflect their dissatisfaction in the polls."        
       
   Some candidates have already made their positions clear. Republican
   presidential hopeful Phil Gramm spoke at the NRA's annual convention in May 
   and bragged, "My eighty-two-year-old momma has a .38 Special--and she knows 
   how to use it." And Tanya Metaksa, the chief lobbyist for the NRA and one of
   its most powerful officials, says, "We are going to work very much against  
   the incumbent President in the next election."      
       
   Ironically, despite its considerable clout, the NRA's recent anti-government
   rhetoric has alienated some of its supporters. In May, former President     
   George Bush resigned his lifetime membership in the association, outraged   
   that executive vice president Wayne LaPierre had publicly condemned federal 
   officials as "jack-booted thugs." A few days later, former Speaker of the   
   House Thomas Foley followed Bush's lead. LaPierre later apologized for his  
   remark, but a recent CNN/Time magazine poll indicates that support for the  
   NRA has nonetheless dipped sharply.                 
       
   The ultimate equalizer      
       
   But while many women may agree that the NRA has gone too far, this doesn't  
   mean that gun owners are willing to surrender their weapons. In fact, those 
   who are pro-gun remain staunchly so, spanning the ideological spectrum from 
   Camille Paglia, the perennially controversial feminist author of Vamps &    
   Tramps: New Essays (Vintage Books, 1994), to right-wing, ultra-conservative 
   Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho). What unites them is their         
   conviction that a woman has the right to defend herself in any way she      
   chooses. Says Chenoweth, herself a skilled shot, "In the right hands, guns  
   are a good way for law-abiding women to protect themselves." Adds Paglia, "I
   call it street-wise feminism. A small woman in heels is in no position to   
   defend herself, but a weapon changes all that. A gun makes her strong. It is
   the ultimate equalizer."    
       
   It's partly this sense of vulnerability and omnipresent danger that makes   
   women rash to arm themselves, say gun advocates; women also appear to be    
   growing more mistrustful of the very legal system that is supposed to serve 
   and protect them. Supporters of gun control point out, however, that this   
   intensifying fear is precisely what gun manufacturers exploit when selling  
   to women. Having more arms, they say, isn't the best solution to these      
   concerns.                   
       
   Yet while individual women may oppose the idea of a country overrun by guns,
   some don't want to be denied the peace of mind that comes with knowing they 
   can take on a rapist or a killer. Nancy Bittle, thirty, a                   
   software-development manager in Bedford, Massachusetts, founded AWARE       
   (Arming Women Against Rape and Endangerment) five years ago after suffering 
   a violent attack. "Before that happened, I thought guns were for uncivilized
   men," she says. "I was raised to view guns as symbols of evil, but now I    
   look at them as tools--like fire extinguishers."    
       
   The prevention solution     
       
   Other women feel just as strongly that guns are wrong, no matter how or why 
   they're used. Katherine Tennihan, a customer-service representative in      
   Peabody, Massachusetts, has been a crime victim not once, but three         
   times--most recently in 1986, when an abusive ex-boyfriend broke into her   
   home and raped her while her son was in the next room. Yet she insists,     
   "There's no excuse to have a gun. God is the only one who has the right to  
   take a life."               
       
   Gun opponents also question how safe weapons really make a woman. While the 
   pro-gun faction stresses a woman's right to protect herself in a dangerous  
   world, critics say that gun manufacturers have profit, not noble intentions,
   at heart. They also point out that those ads encouraging women to buy guns  
   for their families' sake omit the fact that firearms can just as easily put 
   those loved ones' lives in jeopardy. News reports are filled with accounts  
   of children shot by accident in their own homes.    
       
   Instead, gun-control allies suggest, the focus should be on prevention. Says
   Sarah Brady, "To me, part of being a strong woman means knowing how to      
   protect yourself. But you have to do it the right way, like avoiding        
   dangerous situations in the first place. Safety and power isn't a matter of 
   carrying a gun."            
       
   Pulling the trigger         
       
   If a woman does choose to buy a gun, experts say, she still has an important
   decision ahead of her: "She has to know that she'd be able to pull that     
   trigger," says Paxton Quigley, a Beverly Hills author, personal-protection  
   specialist and Smith & Wesson spokesperson.         
       
   Furthermore, if a woman does shoot an attacker, the aftereffects can linger 
   for years. Susan Elliott, who killed her would-be rapist, suffered lingering
   flashbacks. It took a year of attending a trauma support group for her to   
   come to terms with her act of self-defense. Says Kathleen Burke, a retired  
   New York City detective and former president of the International           
   Association of Women Police, "A victim who kills thinks at first, 'Thank God
   it was him, not me.' But next she has to live with the fact that she's take 
   a life."                    
       
   The bottom line: The decision to arm or not to arm should not be taken      
   lightly; it has repercussions on individuals, families and society. "A gun  
   gives a woman a sense of power, of being on equal footing. If I were a      
   woman, I would carry a gun," says Eric Hickey, Ph.D., professor of          
   criminology at California State University, in Fresno.                      
       
   "On the other hand," he adds, "that makes for a pretty violent society."    
       
   * Name has been changed.    
       
   Firearm Facts               
       
   1 Approximately 200 million firearms exist in the U.S.                      
                          
   2 About 500,000 women are members of the National Rifle Association         
       
   3 Fifty-one percent of American households own a gun                        
       
   4 Every 5.4 seconds, a gun is manufactured in America                       
       
   PHOTO (COLOR): Is owning a gun a right, or a privilege?                     
       
   PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Sarah Brady                  
       
   PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Camille Paglia               
       
   PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Paxton Quigley               
       
-----------------------------       
   from   _Ladies' Home Journal_, 112, No. 8 (August, 1995), pp. 89 ff.