Women and Guns Fascinate Media But Data Is Missing
May 10, 2003
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
Every few months someone in the general media decides in the absence of a man biting a dog that the subject of women and guns makes a good story line. They do it in newspapers, national magazines, television and radio. And, more often than not, one such story in a major media outlet tends to spawn a slew of others.
While the slant varies from one report to another, two things seldom change, at least during the past 15 years or so.
The first is that most such articles are laced with unconcealed surprise that any woman would want to own and shoot a firearm. Thus the women gunowners who speak to the reporters are too often treated as freaks of nature.
The second thing is that most reporters approach the subject of guns in general and women and guns in particular as complete novices. Since the Second Amendment Foundation also publishes Women & Guns magazine, we are often asked to comment or provide information. The experience of such an interview is usually akin to taking a child to kindergarten for the first time.
The key question usually revolves around the number of American women who own guns. What reporters discover is that there is no reliable number—not from the government; not from gun organizations, and not from the gun press.
There are numbers that various people have made up, which range from the low of about 11 million—a number that the anti-gun organizations and some of their pet scholars like to use—to a high of about 17 million, which appeared in a Penthouse magazine article a couple of years ago.
When asked, we tell them that the number is somewhere between the two, and that we have averaged a number of polls and sources that make us believe it is about 15 million. But whether 11 million or 15, or 17 million, that’s a lot of Americans that the media and policy makers often ignore.
My daughter, Peggy, who has edited Women & Guns magazine for almost a dozen years as well as working on Gun Week for more years than she cares to mention, usually steers the journalists to local gun shops. She tells them to ask firearms dealers if they are seeing more women customers these days than in the past. She also invites them to let her know if they find a gun dealer who says this is not so.
To date, she has never had one of these reporters call back.
All of the forgoing came to mind recently because of two unconnected news stories.
The first, dated Apr. 3, from WABC in New York City, claimed that as more people apply for gun licenses, an increasing number of women are among them. That’s a fair statement as far as it goes, but here’s a transcript of that broadcast report.
“In tonight’s Eyewitness News Extra: Women Packing Heat. Nationwide, only about 19% of gunowners are women, but the number of permits issued to women in our area (NYC metro) has increased in recent years. So why do more women want to carry a weapon? Tim Fleischer reports.
“Being able to legally obtain and fire a weapon, Guilda Lurie is like a growing number of other women who are licensed gunowners.
“Guilda Lurie, licensed gunowner: ‘They find they are just exploring different areas of how to be self-protected.’
“In Rockland County (NY), for instance, while the total number of new gun licenses has increased steadily in the last three years, a growing number of them are now obtained by women.
“Milton Glassman, pistol license clerk: ‘The increase of women having pistol licenses have gone up anywhere, from what it used to be—about 10 to 15%, to 25%.’
“In Westchester County (NY), the number of women receiving permits has also grown steadily along with the total number. In 2002, 654 licenses were issued in Westchester County, compared to 531 in 2000. Of those issued, 86 were to women in 2002, compared to 59 in 2000.
“Lurie: ‘Anybody who is interested, ultimately in guns, is mostly going to come to a range. They’re going to learn how to shoot. Learn safety, initially. It’s mostly target shooting. Hopefully they’ll never have to us it.’
“Clarkstown Police Sgt. Harry Baumann is a certified firearms instructor.
“Sgt. Harry Baumann, Clarkstown PD: ‘There are some who want the sport, there’s a lot more who want the safety of having a firearm in the house. And also, if their husbands are into it, they want to be involved also.’
“Steve Eisenberg owns the Firing Line, a gun shop and firing range in Pearl River.
“Steven Eisenberg, co-owner: ‘They might come in to us, and want a firearm for target purposes and then eventually they’re going to want a firearm to keep around the house in case there’s a reason to use it.’
“And whether it’s a woman or a man seeking a license, at the Firing Line they stress the most important thing when it comes to owning a gun, the need for good education.
“Eisenberg: ‘You should know what to do. That’s what we try to teach people—Proper usage.’ ”
That’s a pretty fair and objective report you might say; we did. But then you stop to wonder where the figures 19% and 25% came from. If those are national they have to be way off. If they are New York City suburban figures only, maybe.
But if the “Million” Mom Marchers (MMM) are planning a Mother’s Day rally in Washington, DC, in 2004 and the Second Amendment Sisters are also planning a rally, Capitol Hill may see more activist women than they can shake a stick at. We all know now that there are no million supporters of the MMM; there was no million at their first Clinton-sponsored rally, not even a 10th of that number. And if intensity is a measure, the MMM has a different problem. They were having such fundraising problems that they had to be rescued by the foundation-supporters Brady Campaign (formerly Handgun Control Inc.).
London Story
But then an Apr. 8 story from the South London Press in London, England, got me wondering about the number of guns our millions of American women gunowners really own. It was a story about 72 guns handed in by one woman during an amnesty. Here’s what it said:
“The capital’s (London) gun amnesty is enjoying record results after a south London woman handed in 72 rifles in one go.
“Cops were left speechless when the woman called in after finding the arsenal in the basement of her family home.
“The haul, thought to be the capital’s biggest single hand-in, included 66 rimfire .22 rifles—classified by police as deadly ‘section one’ firearms.
“After taking the call last week, officers attended the house in Queenstown Road, Battersea, and took charge of the cache.
“Inspector Tony Davies, of Wandsworth police, told the South London Press: ‘We could not believe it.
“ ‘So far we’d had about eight guns handed in, so you can imagine our surprise.
“ ‘Just think what the hand-in will do to the Met’s over-all figures. I’ve never heard of anything like it.’
“A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Operations Unit confirmed the rifles had been handed in as part of the national gun amnesty. ‘I think you can safely say this is the biggest number of weapons handed in in London in one go,’ she said.
“The rifles had been kept by the owner of a shooting range in Battersea Park which closed down around 30 years ago.
“The owner died, and her daughter found the guns stashed away in the basement.
“Insp. Davies said: ‘We’re extremely grateful.
“ ‘There’s nothing untoward about these guns, but, in the wrong hands, they could have caused mayhem.’ ”
And before I sign off on this column, I should note that the London “hand-in” had only collected eight other guns in a week in one of the world’s largest cities.
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