Girls and guns graphic

Girls and guns graphic

gunownershiprate

Click on picture to make it larger.  I really wish that the references here were directly linked to the claims.  While some of these facts are obviously true (25% of permit holders in Michigan are women), there are others that I am more dubious about (e.g., 200 million firearms owned in US - I think that it is significantly higher) and still others that I would at least like to follow up (e.g., 83 percent increase in 2009 in women buying guns for personal protection).  Some numbers are pretty useless, such as the NSSF number that 74% of women in their classes by a handgun.  How many of them already owned a handgun or lived with someone else who did?  Finally, note that some numbers appear inconsistent with each other.  For example, 43% of women report household gun ownership, but the graphic below that shows that Democrats own guns at 23% and Republicans at 41%.  The implied average is clearly below that implied by the 43% (though it is possible that number is referring to personal ownership and not to household ownership).

Kim Kardashian, gun owner

Kim Kardashian, gun owner

gunownershiprate

The UK Daily Mail has an article on Kim Kardashian posting a picture of her stylish "Yves Saint Laurent pistol." You know that something is happening when gun ownership gets this fashionable.

Some were admiring: 'A YSL gun? Great for us chicks that love high fashion!' Other comments were critical: 'Oh that is setting a great example to the millions of teens around the world following you', said one follower on Twitter. . . .

Mai Martinez: One reporter who may end up saving a few lives

Mai Martinez: One reporter who may end up saving a few lives

gunownershiprate Media womenversusmen

My research has convinced me that women benefit much more from owning guns then men do, and to the extent that news stories such as this encourage more women to own guns, particularly those in high crime rate places such as Chicago, to own guns, I think that there will be more lives saved.  A write up of this story at CBS Chicago can be found here.

Gun permits almost double over last 5 years in New South Wales Australia

Gun permits almost double over last 5 years in New South Wales Australia

Australia GunControl gunownershiprate

Gun control groups in Australia aren't happy with this.

THE number of gun permits issued in NSW has almost doubled in the past five years, sparking calls for restrictions on how many guns people can acquire.
Figures from the NSW firearms registry show 111,792 permits to acquire a firearm were issued in 2009 and 2010. That was 29,427 more than for the previous two-year period. In 2005 and 2006, there were 65,997 permits issued.
The National Coalition for Gun Control, which obtained the latest figures under freedom-of-information laws, says that the increase is linked to the scrapping of a 28-day waiting period for a second or subsequent firearm. . . .

Eliminating Gun Control Produces Huge Drop in Crime

Eliminating Gun Control Produces Huge Drop in Crime

Crime gunownershiprate Latvia MGLC

Interesting report from the Russian News and Information Agency:

Advocates of legalizing firearms in Russia often refer to the experience of neighboring Latvia: After the relevant law was adopted, street crime dropped by 80%, and the Latvian police force has been cut.

Thanks very much to Don Kates for sending this.