From: "Chris R. Tame", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which
>follows.
>To view this item online, visit
>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?21648
>
>Thursday, February 8, 2001
>
>Physician group slams handgun report
>Analysis claims women not safer by carrying handguns
>
>By Jon Dougherty
>
>© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
>
>A prominent member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
>has refuted key
>details of a study published recently by the Violence Policy Center, in
>which researchers concluded
>that women were not safer if they used a handgun for self-defense.
>
>The VPC report,, called "A Deadly Myth: Women, Handguns and Self-Defense,"
>published Jan.
>31, said that in the early 1980s, gun manufacturers began to target women
>with "the false message"
>that "the greatest threat posed to a woman was an attack by a stranger, and
>the best form of
>protection a woman could rely upon was a handgun."
>http://www.vpc.org/studies/myth.htm
>
>"For all of the promises made on behalf of the self-defense handgun, using a
>handgun to kill in
>self-defense is a rare event," the report said. "Looking at both men and
>women, over the past 20
>years, on average only 2 percent of the homicides committed with handguns in
>the United States
>were deemed justifiable or self-defense homicides by civilians.
>
>"In 1998, for every time a woman used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 101
>women were
>murdered with a handgun," the report said, citing FBI figures.
>
>But Miguel A. Faria Jr., editor-in-chief of Medical Sentinel -- the official
>journal of the Association
>of American Physicians and Surgeons, said VPC's figures were flawed because
>they were based on
>bad statistical analysis.
>
>"What they are doing . is, on the one side, counting the number of women who
>have been killed in
>criminal acts, and on the other side they are placing the number of women
>who have used a gun" in
>self-defense, he told WorldNetDaily.
>
>"In other words, self-defense vs. murders," he said, "but they are ignoring
>the most important uses of
>firearms. They are ignoring the protective benefits of firearms, which are
>not necessarily the number
>of deaths.
>
>"In fact, we're happy to say that in less than 2 percent of cases does a
>person have to fire a gun to
>protect themselves," he said. "In 98 percent of the cases, all that a person
>has to do is brandish a
>firearm; that's all it takes."
>
>Faria added that research shows that only "in 0.1-0.2 percent of cases does
>anybody actually get
>shot by people who are protecting themselves."
>
>Faria acknowledged that fewer women than men carry or turn to firearms for
>protection, but he said
>that in 1994, research showed that about 17 million women carried a gun.
>
>"When asked why, most said for self-protection," he said.
>
>In 1998, the VPC report said, "handguns were used to murder 1,209 women.
>That same year, 12
>women used handguns to kill in self-defense."
>
>The biggest problem with the report, Faria said, "is that [researchers] were
>only going by body
>count -- which is not an good way to measure this. We have been criticizing
>this methodology for a
>decade."
>
>"Currently, only a small minority of adult American women own a handgun,"
>said the VPC report.
>"Before a woman purchases a handgun for protection, she must pause to
>consider whether the
>grave risk . is one she is willing to accept."
>
>
--
Dr. Chris R. Tame, Director
Libertarian Alliance
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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