Critique of Linda Hasselstrom's "a Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun"

Introduction

According to Grinshteyn and David 270, there was more than 1,248,185 reported crime in the USA from 1990 to 2017. Such data indicates the level of insecurity prevailing across the country. This proposes and confirms the concerns raised by Linda M. Hasselstrom in her article "A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun." In her publication, she tries to justify her move to purchase a licensed gun, which she carried with her all the time. For instance, she says that the society has undermined the need for women to protect themselves since it is considered culturally wrong for women to be strong. Hence, it takes a lot of energy for such women to convince themselves of their ability to offer protection to themselves (Hasselstrom 383). Hasselstrom expresses her concerns in a credible argument citing her personal experiences such as threats from men, hence the need for self-protection, however, she uses a lot of fallacies to express how women with guns can protect themselves from men.

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Women ought to carry guns since it is one of their ethical and legal rights provided by the constitution. This means that women cannot be discriminated or denied the chance to possess a gun. Women also have concerns about their security, and hence they may need reinforcements such as guns to ensure that they are freed from any insecurities. According to Hasselstrom 385, God created women and women, while Sam Colt made them equal after his emotional appeal for women to be allowed to purchase and own guns. Such a statement tries to signify that the women ought to be allowed to own guns since it is their right, and any move against such a provision should be rejected. This is also supported by a finding by Tierney, which suggested that the world would be safer if more women were allowed to own guns. The article terms women as the major beneficiaries of the legalization of public gun ownership and suggesting that they should not be denied such an opportunity. Therefore, such arguments cement the suggestions relayed by Hasselstrom that women should be granted their legal right to own guns for self-protection.

Guns make women powerful over the criminals especially men who seem to take advantage of the feminine gender, which is considered weaker. Hasselstrom in her article gave a personal account of an instance when she was driving one day, and a car full of men started following her (Hasselstrom 355). The instance left her feeling powerless and defenseless since she was sure that the men would have overpowered her. This triggered her to acquire a gun, which would act as a source of protection to supplement her power and be able to scare away criminals. Additionally, according to Stroebe et al., 1075, America is one of the countries that runs an effective public gun possession policy, and its major function out to be to provide self-protection to the owners. Quigley 89 also states that once women can operate and control their interaction with guns, they become to acquire the sense of control especially losing their fears. These studies prove the need for women to own guns since they help in building confidence and sense of security from the criminals amongst women as stated by Hasselstrom.

Sexual harassment has been on the rise and hence women ought to possess guns to protect themselves in case of such attacks. According to Stange 12, if women are armed, there is a probability of reducing the rape cases since the gun will give the women power over their potential oppressors allowing them to escape such instances. Additionally, Hasselstrom 381 states that it is important for her to be careful since she was a woman, who is considered weak by the dominant believes in the society. This emphasizes the importance of empowering women to ensure that they are free from the criminals who sexually exploit them. Stroebe, Leander and Kruglanski 1072, also states that 60% of the women across the US own guns for self-protection, which entails scares such as sexual abuse. This affirms the concerns raised by Hasselstrom for her motivation to acquire a gun.

Owning guns can be utilized as a measure to reduce crimes and does not necessarily result in violent encounters in the society. Hasselstrom 384 suggested that carrying a pistol does not affirm protection, but rather it provokes avoidance which is the best approach to eliminate trouble. This means that, rather than protection, guns trigger individuals to evade the involvement in criminal activities especially inhuman acts against women. According to Metzl, Jonathan and MacLeish 2, it is not the gun that kills rather; it is the individuals who own these firearms. Additionally, the report suggests that in most criminal or mass shooting instances, the individuals involved are majorly associated with mental problems or driven by extremist ideologists or beliefs. Hence, such a claim affirms the argument presented by Hasselstrom that ownership of guns does not lead to violence, and also it triggers individuals to avoid engaging in criminal activities in the society.

However, the article utilizes fallacy to assume that the major threat to women is men and only guns that can be used to protect them from being attacked or oppressed by the male counterparts. Regardless of her acceptance that owning a pistol cannot guarantee one's safety, she still holds on the fact that its possession shifts the power balance to favor women thus increasing their security levels (Hasselstrom 385). This means that more emphasizes laid on the need to own a gun as a measure to assist in protecting women (Filipovic 29). This notion is supported by Maria and Nobles 47, who states that a handgun is women's favorite friend and assists in scaring dangerous women away. However, this seems to be a fallacy since Kaplan suggests that the access to gun has majorly increased the number of deaths in the US by more than 600,000 deaths in 22 years. However, such an argument cannot refute the need for women to own guns, especially from the level of sexual harassment and crime rates which increases the need for self-protection across the country.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Hasselstrom expresses her concerns in a credible argument citing her personal experiences such as threats from men, hence the need for self-protection. However, she uses a lot of fallacies to express how women with guns can protect themselves from men. For instance, Women have an ethical and legal right to purchase and own a gun. Hence no one ought to deny then such a provision. Notably, guns tend to make women powerful over the criminals especially men who seem to take advantage of the feminine which is considered weaker, hence initiating the sense of security amongst them. Moreover, the article suggests that guns will help in offering self-protection to women especially against sexual offenses. Finally, owning guns can be utilized as a measure to reduce crimes and does not necessarily result in violent encounters in the society. Thus, such arguments prove the accuracy of the Hasselstrom article, overpowering the sense of fallacy utilized.

Works Cited

Filipovic, Jill. "It's Always Men." Time Magazine, vol. 190, no. 15, 16 Oct. 2017, p. 29.

Grinshteyn, Erin, and David Hemenway. "Violent death rates: the US compared with other high-income OECD countries, 2010." The American journal of medicine 129.3 (2016): 266-273. https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/full text

Hasselstrom, Linda. "A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun." Utne Reader (1991): 380-390.

Kaplan, Sheila. "The Case for Studying Gun Violence." New York Times, 13 Mar. 2018, p. D1(L). Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530686505/AONE?u=hvcc&sid=AONE&xid=f4682480. Accessed 10 Apr. 2018.

Koeppel, Maria D., and Matt R. Nobles. "Understanding Female Gun Ownership." Feminist Criminology, vol. 12, no. 1, 2016, pp. 43-71. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1557085115609416

Metzl, Jonathan M., and Kenneth T. MacLeish. "Mental illness, mass shootings, and the politics of American firearms." American journal of public health 105.2 (2015): 240-249. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302242

Quigley, Paxton. "Of Arms and the Woman." Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy. Vol. 15. No. 4. University of Tennessee, EERC, 2000.

Stange, Mary Zeiss. "No More Raping." Women's Review of Books, vol. 21, no. 5, Feb. 2004, pp. 12-13.

Stroebe, W., N. Pontus Leander, and Arie W. Kruglanski. "Is it a Dangerous World Out There? The Motivational Bases of American Gun Ownership." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol 48, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1070-1085. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167217703952

Tierney, J. With guns, A safer world for women? New York Times 1999, Jun 14. http://proxy.hvcc.edu:2048/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.hvcc.edu:2443/docview/431186886?accountid=6155 Accessed 10 Apr. 2018.