One of the leading arguments in favor of gun ownership under the Second Amendment is self-defense, but studies show that girls with guns may not be safer.
According to The Atlantic, a meta-analysis concluded women accessible to firearms become homicide victims at higher rates than men.
The magazine also said that 84 percent of women in developed countries who become victims of guns are found in the United States while U.S. women make up only a third of the total female developed nation population.
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Additionally, in states where guns are more widely available, women die at higher rates from suicide, homicide, and accidental firearms incidents.
“Just putting a weapon in the woman’s hand is not going to reduce the number of fatalities or gunshot victims that we have,” professional boxer Christy Salters Martin, who has a concealed carry permit, told The Atlantic. “Too many times, their male counterpart or spouse will be able to overpower them and take that gun away.”
Surveys of domestic abuse victims showed a majority of murdered battered women had guns in their home while less than a fifth of those who survived did. In a study of 417 women, only seven percent had used a gun in self-defense successfully.
The Huffington Post reported that when stricter gun laws were set in place, 38 percent fewer murders of women occurred by their partners.
According to Huff Post, keeping guns from domestic abusers is not a partisan issue, as Gov. Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal signed legislation that prohibits ownership of guns by abusers.
Nonetheless, some studies have shown access to firearms has saved some women from crimes.
According to Gun Owners of America, as many as 200,000 women use guns in self-defense each year, and in 1979, a study showed an armed woman stopped rape 97 percent of the time.
“The one thing a violent rapist deserves to face is a good woman with a gun,” said Wayne LaPerre, executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, according to The Atlantic.
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