{"id":94416,"date":"2023-07-15T20:39:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-16T01:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=94416"},"modified":"2023-07-15T20:39:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T01:39:59","slug":"94416","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=94416","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Women Are Arming Themselves at an Accelerated Rate<\/a><\/p>\n

The face of gun ownership is changing. Over the last few decades, more and more women are arming themselves.<\/p>\n

As of 2022, women are the fastest-growing group of gun owners in the United States.<\/p>\n

In 2005, only 13 percent of gun owners were women. Now, one in five women reported owning a firearm. What\u2019s even more staggering is that most gun purchases during the pandemic were made by women according to a Harvard survey.<\/p>\n

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With the news of mass shootings and demand for\u00a0stricter gun control<\/a>, you would think these stats would be the opposite.<\/p>\n

So why are so many women purchasing firearms?<\/p>\n

Here are some of the reasons behind it.<\/p>\n

Empowerment and Self-Defense:<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the main factors affecting the rise in gun ownership among women is empowerment and self-defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith rising awareness and empowerment, women are stepping up to take their safety into their own hands,\u201d says Brett Klein, president of\u00a0Hinterland Outfitters<\/a>. \u201cThe surge in female gun ownership signifies a broader societal shift towards self-reliance and independence, especially in matters of personal security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studies have shown that a desire for empowerment and self-defense play a significant role in women\u2019s decision to arm themselves.<\/p>\n

According to Pew Research, women site \u201cprotection\u201d as the top reason they own a gun. In fact, they cite this reason more than men as the only reason to own a gun (compared to \u201crecreation\u201d).<\/p>\n

Violence Against Women:<\/strong><\/p>\n

More and more women feel the need to defend themselves due to violence, especially when it comes to domestic violence.<\/p>\n

Over the last few years, there has been a drastic increase in such violence. What researchers are referring to as the \u201cshadow pandemic,\u201d the number of women who have been the victim of intimate partner violence has increased nearly three-fold according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

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Keep in mind however, there is no correlation between lower rates of crime against women and gun ownership among women. Meaning, there are no statistics currently available showing that increased ownership in firearms by women effectively lower the rate of crime against them.<\/p>\n

In an article in\u00a0The Huffington Post<\/a>, researcher Susan Sorenson was quoted as saying, \u201cthere is evidence that women who, regardless of abuse status, arm themselves are at higher risk of becoming a victim of homicide as well as suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changing Gender Norms:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shifting\u00a0gender norms<\/a>\u00a0have impacted gun ownership among women.<\/p>\n

Women are no longer confined to traditional gender roles. And as such, are embracing activities that were historically associated with masculinity. This includes owning firearms.<\/p>\n

Despite the change in gender roles, gun ownership among women does take place at a later age than men. On average, women purchase their first gun by the age of 27 compared to men who do so at 19.<\/p>\n

Marketing to gender roles also plays an important factor.<\/p>\n

According to research by Morgan Stanley, corporations are paying attention to factors such as the number of single women in society. It is predicted that 45 percent of prime-working-age women will be single by 2030. That means personal protection of a family can no longer be assumed to be a male-dominated role.<\/p>\n

Media and Cultural Influence:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The influence of media, including social media platforms and popular culture, cannot be ignored when examining the rise of female firearm ownership.<\/p>\n

News articles and social media discussions often highlight stories of women successfully defending themselves with firearms. Strong independent female characters in film have also shaped the perception for gun ownership with women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe box office is now consistently bombarded with movies about women who not only wield guns, but do so more effectively than their male counterparts,\u00a0writes David E. Roark<\/a>. \u201cThese characters resonate with both the American public and filmmakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such representations can contribute to normalizing and destigmatizing women\u2019s firearm ownership.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The upward trend of women arming themselves brings up a complex set of factors as to why. From empowerment, to media, to violence against women, and changing gender roles, all are contributing factors.<\/p>\n

While further studies, surveys, and research are necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of why, current statistics make it clear that women are increasingly taking charge of their own safety and embracing firearms as a means of self-defense and empowerment in today\u2019s society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women Are Arming Themselves at an Accelerated Rate The face of gun ownership is changing. Over the last few decades, more and more women are arming themselves. As of 2022, women are the fastest-growing group of gun owners in the United States. In 2005, only 13 percent of gun owners were women. Now, one in … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94416"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94418,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94416\/revisions\/94418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}