WiseOne wrote:Maddy wrote:WiseOne wrote:The notion that women carrying guns can reduce risk of rape is interesting, so I looked into it briefly. Unfortunately, this appears to be an NRA-generated myth. It may be true but there's no study or set of data that show this convincingly.
It is known that households with a gun are statistically at higher risk of gun violence, that rape often happens with people known to the victim, and that often alcohol or drugs is involved so neither party is in shape to use a firearm safely/accurately. Comparing statistics like rape rates vs gun prevalance is fraught with problems, because of the usual issues with spurious correlations like the correlation between Nicolas Cage movies and swimming pool deaths.
I agree. The definition of "rape" is so fuzzy and all-inclusive these days that you couldn't possibly do a study that would mean anything.
My own experience with guns is quite mixed. There was a time in my life when I carried concealed most of the time. I was working in a high-crime, gang-infested area and had to walk a distance to my car in the dark. It made sense then. The downside, both then and now, is that carrying a firearm is an awesome responsibility. Every minute you have to be thinking, "Where is my purse?" "Are there children in the room?" And because you've essentially taken on the responsibility of responding--potentially with deadly force--to whatever might arise, you have to be constantly aware of what's happening around you. Ultimately, I found it too much to think about day in and day out.
There was one incident, many years ago, when I was walking alone to my car late at night. A car slowed down, pulled up along the sidewalk and trailed me for half a minute or so. The car pulled over 50 feet ahead of me, and a creepy-looking guy got out and started moving toward me without saying a thing. I stopped, planted my feet firmly, drew my pistol with both hands, and said, "You take one more step toward me and I'll blow your balls off." He turned, walked back to his car, and drove away. I'm pretty sure the story would have been different had I not had a gun with me that night.
Great story Maddy, and nice observations about gun ownership. I went to medical school in a high crime urban area, so I can definitely relate. I used to carry around an extra wallet with $40 in it. Several of my classmates bought guns. The university has since walled off the campus & housing area, after spending a lot of time on useless blather about fostering good relationships with the natives etc. (Yes, they built a wall!!).
Libertarian666 - yes, Maddy's story is an anecdote. The NRA's suggestion was that rape
rates have dropped, or would drop if more women carried guns. That's not statistically supported. Comparing two unrelated bits of info unfortunately doesn't prove the case, because you have the usual issues where A & B appear to be [anti]correlated because they're both related to an unknown factor C, and you can't prove causality from a correlation.
It is not necessary to have statistics to support statements that are known to be true from a priori data.
In this case, it is undeniably true that the average man is far stronger than the average woman. Thus, without an equalizer (weapon) to mitigate this disparity, women are extremely vulnerable to rape. With such a weapon, their vulnerability is decreased.
However, for those who still want statistics, here is an analysis:
"Abstract
What are the consequences when rape victims resist rapists? Analysis of a nationally representative sample of rape incidents reported in the National Crime Surveys for 1979 to 1985 yields the following findings: (1) Victims who resist are much less likely to have the rape completed against them than nonresisting victims, a pattern generally apparent regardless of the specific form of resistance; (2)
The form of resistance that appears most effective in preventing rape completion is resistance with a gun, knife, or other weapon; (3) Most forms of resistance are not significantly associated with higher rates of victim injury. The exceptions are unarmed forceful resistance and threatening or arguing with the rapist; (4) Even these two forms of resistance probably do not generally provoke rapists to injure their victims, as ancillary evidence concerning assaults and robberies indicates that resistance rarely precedes injury. Attack against the victim appears to provoke victim resistance, rather than the reverse; (5) Only about three percent of rape incidents involve some additional injury that could be described as serious. Thus it is the rape itself that is nearly always the most serious injury the victim suffers. Consequently, refraining from resistance in order to avoid injury in addition to the rape is a questionable tradeoff."
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/800645)