The equalizer

Salt Lake Tribune, November 17, 2005

I must blow some holes in Rep. Pat Jones’ statement that ?many women feel much differently toward gun control from the way men do? (Tribune, Nov. 10).
More women than ever are glad that the Founding Fathers did not just grant the right to keep and bear arms to ?Virginia Gentry.? Ever-increasing numbers of females are getting acquainted with firearms. All it takes is one trip to the rifle range for women to discover that target shooting is more fun than shopping or scrapbooking.
Legislators and judges cannot alter biology. Women remain the physically weaker sex despite all of the protections afforded them by statute and case law. Three out of four women will be a victim of a crime, most likely perpetrated upon them by a man.
That’s why many women are choosing to pack a pistol for protection. Smashing through the glass ceiling in the workplace is of little consequence to members of their sex who are the subjects of autopsies, on life support or waiting for an emergency room nurse to retrieve a rape test kit.
Firearms give meaning to the individual right of self-defense where people, due to size, age, or infirmity, lack the physical strength to fight off those who would harm them. As a brochure for the Colt’s Patent Firearms Mfg. Co. put it, ?Have no fear of any man no matter what his size. When danger threatens call on me, and I shall equalize.?

Janalee Tobias
Women Against Gun Control
South Jordan