Re: Gun control and rape - The myths and the facts

Phil Smythe wrote:

One of the most commonly seen phrases in TPG is, "Gun control, the
theory that 110lb. women should have to fistfight with 210lb. rapists."
 Another claim is "Guns make rape dangerous for the rapist."  And just
a few days ago from Scout, "Since women do get raped, why do you want
to deprieve them of the choice to possess a very effective self defense
tool?"

If this were true then in a country like the US, which has allows for
the private ownership of firearms for the purpose of self defense,
there should be evidence of such use in the near 200,000 rape/sexual
assaults that occur annually.

US DOJ data gives a breakdown of the self-protective measures employed
by victims of rape/sexual assault. The most common method is 'resisted
or captured offender' at 28%. That's probably where our fistfighters
are categorised. Next were 3 methods all around 14%, 'persuaded or
appeased offender', 'scared or warned offender' and 'ran away or hid'.
Add in 'screamed from pain or fear' at 7% and 'got help or gave alarm'
which accounted for 4% then over three-quarters (81%) of
self-protective measures have been accounted for, yet weapon use as a
method of self-protection is yet to appear.
> 
Did any victims threaten or attack the rapists with a weapon? Well 7%
'attacked offender without weapon" while 5% 'threatened offender
without weapon". Those numerate amongst us will realise that we are now
at 93% of all self-protective measures and still no weapons in sight.
Two categories have yet to get a mention, 'attacked offender with
weapon ' and 'threatened offender with weapon'. This is where we should
find those US gals (and occasional guy) using guns as so many here
suggest they might be used.
> 
And what are the percentages for those two categories? Identical as it
turns out, 0.0% for 'attacked offender with weapon ' and 0.0% for
'threatened offender with weapon'. The remaining 7% were categorised as
'took other measures'.
> 
So effectively NO women in the US, 110lb or otherwise, are using guns,
or any other weapon for that matter, to protect themselves against
rapists. Yet the constant refrain in TPG is that gun control will force
women to fist fight rapists. Well about a quarter do that already, but
NONE use weapons to defend themselves. Clearly increased gun control
will have no impact on rape victims defending themselves.

My guess is that in almost all incidents a rape/sexual assault takes
place in circumstances where access to a weapon is highly problematic,
the assault has begun before the woman has time to react. Most
rape/sexual assaults are done by people the victim knows, with about
10% by a spouse.

On the other side of the coin the rapists aren't afraid to use weapons
with 16% doing so and in almost 6,000 rape/sexual assaults a gun was
the weapon used by the attacker.


What you don't mention is that a gun was used by the perpetrator in only 3.1% of the rapes.

The intriguing thing about all this is that anyone espousing a gun
control line is accused being on the side of the criminal, yet the
facts show that gun control would not change the situation of victim's
methods of self-protection one bit,

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus0304.pdf  tables 66 and 70

Gun control, if it changes anything to do with rape, will be to lessen
the use of guns as offensive weapons but will not reduce the use of
guns defensively.


That's not what those tables say. But your conclusion does not follow in any case. The essential point is that having a weapon markedly increases a woman's chance of successfully resisting (as the article excerpt below shows). The fact that only a few percent of women have a weapon available could as logically be interpreted to show that what is needed is for more women to be armed. It's true that in many (possibly most) cases, a woman may not have the chance to defend herself--That does not imply that the means and the right to be able to do so should be denied her.

http://www.gunblast.com/guns-against-rape.htm	

Guns Effective Defense Against Rape

`But the Justice Department gives interesting data on an additional step women can take to help prevent the escalation of an attempted rape to a completed one: physical resistance.

"For both completed rape and sexual coercion, victims of completed acts were less likely to take protective action than those who experienced attempted victimization. This finding suggests that the intended victim's willingness or ability to use protection might be one reason attempts to rape and coerce sex failed. Note that the most common protective action was using physical force against the assailant. Nearly 70 percent of victims of attempted rape used this response -- again, a plausible reason many of these acts were not completed."...

[M]ost recent studies with improved methodology are consistently showing that the more forceful the resistance, the lower the risk of a completed rape, with no increase in physical injury. Sarah Ullman's original research (Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1998) and critical review of past studies (Criminal Justice and Behavior, 1997) are especially valuable in solidifying this conclusion.

I wish to single out one particular subtype of physical resistance: Use of a weapon, and especially a firearm, is statistically a woman's best means of resistance, greatly enhancing her odds of escaping both rape and injury, compared to any other strategy of physical or verbal resistance. This conclusion is drawn from four types of information.

First, a 1989 study (Furby, Journal of Interpersonal Violence) found that both male and female survey respondents judged a gun to be the most effective means that a potential rape victim could use to fend off the assault. Rape "experts" considered it a close second, after eye-gouging.

Second, raw data from the 1979-1985 installments of the Justice Department's annual National Crime Victim Survey show that when a woman resists a stranger rape with a gun, the probability of completion was 0.1 percent and of victim injury 0.0 percent, compared to 31 percent and 40 percent, respectively, for all stranger rapes (Kleck, Social Problems, 1990).

Third, a recent paper (Southwick, Journal of Criminal Justice, 2000) analyzed victim resistance to violent crimes generally, with robbery, aggravated assault and rape considered together. Women who resisted with a gun were 2.5 times more likely to escape without injury than those who did not resist and 4 times more likely to escape uninjured than those who resisted with any means other than a gun. Similarly, their property losses in a robbery were reduced more than six-fold and almost three-fold, respectively, compared to the other categories of resistance strategy.

Fourth, we have two studies in the last 20 years that directly address the outcomes of women who resist attempted rape with a weapon. (Lizotte, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1986; Kleck, Social Problems, 1990.) The former concludes, "Further, women who resist rape with a gun or knife dramatically decrease their probability of completion." (Lizotte did not analyze victim injuries apart from the rape itself.) The latter concludes that "resistance with a gun or knife is the most effective form of resistance for preventing completion of a rape"; this is accomplished "without creating any significant additional risk of other injury."

The best conclusion from available scientific data, then, is when avoidance of rape has failed and one must choose between being raped and resisting, a woman's best option is to resist with a gun in her hands.’


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Gun control and rape - The myths and the facts
    ... >> Did any victims threaten or attack the rapists with a weapon? ... Yet the constant refrain in TPG is that gun control will force ... >> will have no impact on rape victims defending themselves. ... the official data shows NO resistance using a weapon? ...
    (talk.politics.guns)
  • Re: Gun control and rape - The myths and the facts
    ... >> that both male and female survey respondents judged a gun to be the ... >> most effective means that a potential rape victim could use to fend ... >> analyzed victim resistance to violent crimes generally, with robbery, ...
    (talk.politics.guns)
  • Re: Gun control and rape - The myths and the facts
    ... >>>What you don't mention is that a gun was used by the perpetrator in only ... The essential point is that having a weapon markedly ... > want to evaluate the value of a gun in resisting rape, ... There may be few total cases of resistance with a gun for many ...
    (talk.politics.guns)
  • Re: Gun control and rape - The myths and the facts
    ... Add in 'screamed from pain or fear' at 7% and 'got help or gave alarm' which accounted for 4% then over three-quarters of self-protective measures have been accounted for, yet weapon use as a method of self-protection is yet to appear. ... Yet the constant refrain in TPG is that gun control will force women to fist fight rapists. ... Clearly increased gun control will have no impact on rape victims defending themselves. ... There may be few total cases of resistance with a gun for many ...
    (talk.politics.guns)
  • Re: Gun control and rape - The myths and the facts
    ... >>That is NOT a government analysis or couldn't you tell? ... >>> that both male and female survey respondents judged a gun to be the ... >>> most effective means that a potential rape victim could use to fend ... >>> analyzed victim resistance to violent crimes generally, with robbery, ...
    (talk.politics.guns)