The gender gap & gun rights

[Ford8N]

There are always leg humpers in the gun community, I don't blame females for avoiding the whole gun scene.

[vector16]

in fact if he would get his head out of his you know what and start supporting the constitution instead of voting to destroy it he might draw a larger crowd. Brad Pit is a commi just like the rest of'em

[readysetgo]

Garbage thread!
Apparently there's an intelligence gap in the the community too!
IBTL

[IVC]

Time to stop dividing into male/female, black/white, rich/poor, etc.

Those who are with us are welcome, those who are against us we'll fight on all fronts. A woman doesn't get any more of a pass for being anti gun than a man does. Even if she is black and he is white. Time to stop this apologetic nonsense that we need to coddle some people into accepting civil rights. If a person chooses to ignore civil rights, it really doesn't matter why they choose so.

At the "sporting level," however, it is important to involve groups who are traditionally hesitant to join. This also helps at the political level. But, having a shooting hobby is completely different from accepting that "armed self defense" is a core right, which is the battle that we are currently fighting.

[vector16]

Yes, I've actually thought about doing something like that. Sounds like a full time job, though, which sort of cuts into range time

Although I'd be a little bit more scientific about it. Hire a marketing consultant and do it by the numbers. I don't pretend to understand exactly how to make a gun store as non-threatening as a shoe store to soccer moms -- but I'm sure people that could tell me how are available at a reasonable consulting fee.

It reminds me of story about a model railroading nut that opened a hobby store -- he did much better after he let his wife decide how to invest inventory dollars -- she stocked what sold because she didn't give a rat's butt about trains, whereas he stocked what he personally liked, which only sold to like-minded train nuts. I think the same rule applies to doing this kind of gun store -- you have to get the true gun nuts out of the merchandising decision loop.

My girl is in the fashion industry and she is also a gun lover, now. you are right the gunstores are intimidating to women. you make it more of an accessory store and get that one chick that designs all that womens hunting gear to partner up with you. She could sell her gear in your store and she already knows how to get their attention. My girl owns some of her gear for when we go hunting.

[Gray Peterson]

There are always leg humpers in the gun community, I don't blame females for avoiding the whole gun scene.

Misogyny too

[Meplat]

I don't have anything against Wayne LaPierre, but what if the head of the NRA was a woman? I think that would be a disruptive game changer for the positive.

If the NRA is our 2A leading lobby group and spokesperson, then I want it to do a full-court press at appealing to women.




Exactly! Win over women and we win the war!

Marion Hammer didn't seem to make much of a difference.

[Meplat]

Women have been a great help with handguns and CCW, EBR’s are another story. Our burden of education is greater on that subject. I had a girlfriend that I taught to shoot handguns. I also helped her get set up with a carry gun and bought her a pistol purse. She had grown up on a farm, her Dad was a solid 2A supporter, and she was raised to be pro gun to start with. One day when EBR’s were in the news she said to me; “You know I respect you and Dad’s opinions when it comes to guns, but I just can’t see what those things are good for except killing people.”

I told her that they were good for lots of things besides killing people; but that I would concede that they were very good for that. Being a farm girl she had grown up with the rhythms of life, death, birth and renewal. She was also a level headed realist. I told her that we have to accept reality, and reality is that sometimes, there are people who need killing, and that was why she carried her Smith and Wesson. She admitted to the logic of the thing but said that EBR’s still gave her a bit of a queasy feeling. A few years later, after she had moved to another place to get a well deserved promotion, she told me that she had often gone back in her mind to our conversation on EBR’s and she was now firmly in the pro camp, qualms be damned.

Cast your bread upon the waters and know that there are more smart women out there than one might expect. I’m sorry I let that one get away.

[Ford8N]

Misogyny too

Yes, I noticed that too. Especially in male dominated jobs, which also tend to have a lot of gun owners. Pretty sad.

[safewaysecurity]

Sad that many women and discriminated minorities fight for more gun laws. It usually hurts them the most.

[IVC]

Misogyny too

Sounds like you are justifying a personal choice to be anti-civil liberties based on likeability of those who fight for those civil liberties.

Should abused women in third world country have "white man friendly" bulletin boards in order to attract broader support for their case? Should LGBT modify their message in order to appeal to "mainstream men?"

We must take personal responsibility for actions to support or oppose civil rights regardless of whose rights they are and how we feel about the group whose rights are being violated or the type of rights that are being violated. Those who choose not to do so are responsible for their actions, full stop.

[Tarn_Helm]

Ditto.

Uhm, do you really wonder why gun rights has such a gender gap with statements like, "I agree with you completely, but we're talking about WOMEN here. Women aren't exactly known for rational, logical thinking, especially when it comes to little children, ponies, their vaginas and the aftermaths of school shootings. Didn't a considerable amount of women vote for Obama also? Women operate on emotion and that's why they'll never be on board with pro-2A folk even if you spell it out for them."

Ignore, or worse, insult, a core constituency at our peril.

-Brandon

I agree.

There does seem to be a strong biological factor, however, that we need to figure out: Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think.

Most folks in 2AM circles have just been ignoring this for years.

Occasionally I bring it up.

Result: [Crickets chirping].

We had better get used to expanding our arsenal of "concepts critical to promoting armed self-defense" or else we will continue to alienate and insult 50% of the electorate.

What we have been doing has not really worked too well.

Time to upgrade our conceptual and rhetorical arsenal.

[Marthor]

Time to stop dividing into male/female, black/white, rich/poor, etc.

There's a BIG difference between trying to divide with say class warfare and the opposite of trying to reach out and bring together. The call here is to find ways to reach out to women.

When Obama made his speech in Newtown, he claimed a majority of Americans support this, and a mojority of Americans support that. The actual poll numbers were 52% and 57%. Especially that 52% one could be swung the other way.

Where are the groups of people pushing those gun control numbers up in the polls? Look at the poll linked in the OP, that it's 62% women. Preaching to the choir won't be as effective as reaching out to women would be.

[bwiese]

Remember that women voters are generally focused on their prime issues - which is NOT gun control. Sure, they're signing petitions. But their actual vote - all that really counts - is generally based on non-gun issues.

The fix for the situation the OP mentions is not to burn huge cycles to get some fraction of women over to our side - that's fine & great - but for GOP to stop alienating women, especially professional single women in the the 26 - 52 age range. That's far easier to achieve than making the Dems a pro-gun party [outside of acknowledging & supporting individual Dems that are pro-gun].

Fix that, and you make their gun stance irrelevant because they are NOT single-issue voters on guns. Women in general as a voter bloc are far more concerned with anti-choice etc. matters - and we saw this in the recent national election where F votes actually changed in response to commentary about abortion (plus a national turn around on LGBT rights) to some extent by Romney but far more by Akin and Mourdock, who created huge backslashes outside their districts. [Further proof that the Tea Party either hires idiots for management or specifically intends to lose elections.]

[Trenchfoot]

I'd use the term "single moms" to describe the typical democrat women voters. They don't have a husband and use government assistance as their stand-in husband helper.

Ahhh...disdain. Women will come running here to join in no time!