Women take up arms

Women take up arms
Lenore Higgs tightens her grip on a .380-caliber semiautomatic,
closes one eye and pulls the trigger. Bullets fly from the firing
line, piercing a black-and-white paper target set up at the other end
of the low-slung indoor shooting range. “When someone threatens your
life, you should take it seriously,” said the 27-year-old mother and
college student who lives in White Plains. Higgs recently took part
in an eight-hour firearms safety class at the Tenafly Rifle and
Pistol Club in Teaneck. She and several other women had come because
they plan to buy guns for self-defense following threats or episodes
of violence. Others attended because they want to hunt or take up
target practice. “Guns used to make me panic,” Higgs said during a
lull. “I was always afraid they would go off.” Things changed after
Higgs witnessed an attempted car theft on her property late one
night. When the thieves discovered her identity, she received a
threatening phone call. “The individual said he would kill my whole
family,” Higgs said. Handgun ownership has risen in Westchester and
Rockland counties since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
including ownership by women. Permits issued to women in Westchester
have increased nearly 50 percent from 1998 to 2002, county figures
show.

http://www.nyjournalnews.com/newsroom/040203/b0102womenguns.html