McHale_2013_12-12 2882

You Bet

By John McCarthy

We need as many armed women as possible.This is fact regardless of whether violent crime against women is rising or in decline. Every woman is a potential victim every day of her life, and when the predator is upon her, any statistical assurances she may have relied on — fade to nothing. “Oh, I’ll dial 911.” Give me a break.

Denial provides only imaginary security. No victim of violent crime awoke that day thinking “Today it will happen to me.” If this were so, our victim would never have left the friggin’ house. Let’s be practical and pragmatic here, shall we?

Another fact is the most effective deterrent to violent crime is the armed citizen, and the most effective deterrent to violent crime against women is an armed woman. When seconds count the only first responder on scene fast enough will be the victim. As some trainers say, “Show them they chose poorly in the victim department.”

Allow me now to chew on some of the baloney surrounding this topic. One of my favorites is usually uttered by some vacant-skulled liberal who says a man can easily disarm a woman and use the weapon against her. I would like to see any guy relieve a woman of her firearm when she’s trained to draw and shoot. If he lives, methinks he’ll be relieving himself through a plastic tube, at best.

Guy Things?

Many women may believe they can’t become a proficient shooter and those activities are primarily a guy thing. Some women might say a man carries a gun so he can feel tough and not have to back down from any confrontation. And they would be wrong. It’s just the opposite. When I carry, I’m Mr. Emily Post. Being polite but confident can reduce the chances you’ll need to use your gun and your de-escalation efforts will play better for you in court. Further, superior upper-body strength is not necessary to align the sights and press the trigger, or for anything else related to becoming effective with a firearm.

As any firearms instructor will tell you, most women make better students than most men. Typically women don’t arrive for the first lesson believing they know all sorts of things and already can do everything right. They’re there to learn something new and keep their minds open for it. Learn something here gents.

Many women (and men) have told me they could never shoot someone, therefore they would never use a firearm in self-defense. Instead of focusing on how awful it would be to shoot a vicious attacker — just imagine the alternative. And then pick one. You can be counted as another useless statistic or you can choose to give yourself a fighting chance. I’m not minimizing the personal decision to use lethal force when necessary, but it’s true — the predator needs to be shot. And, it’s entirely the fault of the predator.

I believe if you’re in the business of violent attack, getting killed should be an occupational hazard. If a life of thuggery was wrought with danger, most of those cowards would choose other careers. So, the best we can do is to make attacking us a perilous affair. See the logic?

TT-1

A reliable small-frame revolver makes sense for many women — or many men too. Five or six sure shots have a lot going for them. Toss in a back-up and you get to double that — fast and sure. But most women can easily handle semi-autos too and need to think about all their options.

The Mechanics

Let’s talk about the scary recoil, the grave concern of almost every new shooter. This one is easy. Recoil simply ain’t what you think it is. For virtually every shooter there’s an effective and comfortable way to shoot a handgun. For most women this gun will be a .38 Special revolver or a 9mm or .380 semi-auto pistol. The revolver design is inherently a simple one — just pull the trigger, fire a shot. There’s no safeties to manipulate and no malfunctions to clear. Just draw and fire. With a well-maintained and loaded revolver, a woman knows her weapon will fire with every trigger squeeze.

Semi-autos require more practice to master but semi’s shoot faster, offer greater firepower (more rounds) and are faster to re-load. For the woman preferring a revolver she can use speed loaders or speed strips. She could also carry a second gun as backup. With the Josey Wales reload, she can pull gun number two and keep shooting. Surprise, Mr. Thug.

And there are more choices than these two. Though we love to debate about going to calibers smaller than the .38 or 9mm, there’s a case of note out of New Hampshire. It seems a 65 year-old grandmother shot a mugger with her .32 caliber Kel-Tech semi-auto pistol. Her assailant lived, but he was stopped with one shot. This case reflects less about the effectiveness of this or that caliber and more about the reality every fight is unique — with variables never perfectly repeating. Think what would have happened if she hadn’t had a gun at all? Women should think in terms of which caliber/gun combination fits them best and is effective through a wide range of circumstances. People can help you make this decision so you make an informed one.

We need as many armed women as possible. When a woman takes control of her own safety, she will be safer — and it will be the predators who’ll be in danger. And frankly, I like the idea. Lots.

GUNS

HOLSTERS

SOFT SKILLS

OFFICER SURVIVAL

WEAPONS TRAINING

EXPERTS

TAC-MED

KNIVES

STREET TACTICS

LESS LETHAL

FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM