Handgun Safety for Women

What Every Female Should Know (And Practice)

Many women choose handguns for self defense, recreation or home security. These weapons are not in themselves dangerous, but can be lethal to the wrong people if misused or handled by women who are not comfortable around them. It is not advisable, for example, to purchase a revolver for self-protection, dump it into your purse, and forget about it. You will not be familiar with the gun or how it works, and will put yourself at greater risk than if you were more prepared before a situation occurs. Merely knowing that the gun will be there - somewhere under your Kleenex, car keys, checkbook, kitchen sink and tampons - won't help you if it ever becomes necessary to use it. Just like any other tool, you should be familiar with it. You probably wouldn't want to carry pepper spray unless you knew how to spray it at the attacker (versus accidentally turning it around and spraying yourself right in the face).

Before you run to the nearest gun shop, ask - and answer - a few questions.

"Am I comfortable with handguns?" Not every woman will be better off with a gun. In some cases, people - men AND women - are more dangerous than their would-be attackers. If you are extremely nervous around firearms, you should:

A)avoid them as much as possible. (This means no NRA picnics, unfortunately.)B)spend time using them so that you can become more comfortable. This usually means going to shooting ranges and taking safety courses, both of which will require your time and dedication.C)taking a self-defense course or learning how to use other tools or weapons.

"Will I have the time and finances necessary for this?" Let's say that you decided to take up music. You bought a guitar. You paid a few hundred bucks for it, as well as a bit more for lessons. You were committed to it. You were going to learn how to rock out like the big stars.

But instead, you didn't have time to practice outside of your half-hour lessons. You had other things to do. You had to work, care for the family, go to church, whatever. Eventually you didn't even bother with lessons anymore, and the guitar moved into the storage closet on the second floor.