DeSantis Blog: Girl Meets Gun
Posted on September 13, 2011 by Natalie in News
When I find articles like this I just can’t help but giggle. They simply can not figure out what the deal is with us, can they? I find that to be fabulous. The author of this genuinely interesting and well written piece makes some headway in to our world with a little research, but the word “fun” is only mentioned once in the whole post. Dude, seriously? But then again, with guns, as with dating, it’s best to always keep them guessing. Am I right, girls?GIRL MEETS GUN
What’s Up with the Influx of Femme-y Firearms?
Part I: GunPowder Puff
Women have long been used to sell guns, either intentionally or subliminally. Pulpy images of misanthropic molls -rolled cigarette between their teeth- drawing their single shot from a thigh holster screamed off the molted covers of 1940s “detective” novels. Indelible film moments of girly gun mayhem have seared our collective consciousness. Luc Besson’s memorable LA FEMME NIKITA found Anne Parillaud in heels and pearls desperately running through Paris’ cobblestone streets trailed by assassins – a fearsome Desert Eagle .50 dangling from her hand. These were the kind of visuals meant to sate male firearm fantasies and perhaps stoke subconscious fears that men weren’t really the ones in charge. For the less insecure male, a woman who handles a firearm with dexterity and ruthlessness equal to their XY chromosome counterpart might be considered sexy, predatory and virile.
Why is that no one has realized (until just recently) that women themselves are susceptible to the same powerful imagery of cold steel and hot blood? Women love guns. But the appeal of fantasy is suddenly becoming reality.
The statistics are clear. American women are buying more guns. A lot of guns. Not as presents for their husbands or boyfriends, but for themselves. What the statistics don’t reveal is why. During 2009, in Texas alone, 30,000 women obtained concealed carry holster permits. The trade organization that tabulates gun shop sales in America estimates there was a 73 percent surge in firearms purchases by women in 2009 alone. 73%?! Either there were some great sales on handguns, free Jojoba skin care cleanser given away with every gun purchase, or something sociologically interesting is afoot in America.
The recent feminine interest in spiraled steel has been percolating for a long time. Political groups and firearms manufacturers, in an attempt to cast off the traditional beer-gut boys club image of gun ownership, have been pitching to women for quite some time now. When the firearms market for white males became saturated in the late 1980s, gun makers naturally fixed their sites on the other half of the population to boost profits. At about the same time, The National Rifle Association, incited by restrictions in the Brady Bill gun laws, began pursuing an aggressive campaign in Washington to expand, not just preserve, gun ownership rights. It appears that these efforts have started to bear fruit in the form of increased female gun ownership. National Public Radio and the New York Times, media outlets skeptical of 2nd Amendment expansion, have recently featured stories on the female firearm phenomenon. Both chose a rather cursory approach that focused on gun manufacturers’ efforts to market specifically to women. The Times, for example, featured a magazine spread with pink and mauve purse-sized handguns complete with smaller grips and modified triggers to accommodate more delicate female fingers. The suggestion being that a lethal weapon the same color as your childhood stuffed bunny appears less threatening to women. But could women be that easy of a sell? After all, we haven’t seen any PowerPuff Edition Mini Coopers flying out the showrooms lately.
To read the rest of the article, which I strongly suggest you do, click here:
https://www.desantisholster.com/desantis-blog/girl-meets-gun
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This man clearly has no sisters. We just want to have fun;).
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oooo- yummy! love that post!
“The trade organization that tabulates gun shop sales in America estimates there was a 73 percent surge in firearms purchases by women in 2009″ –which trade organization do you think they’re referencing?