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AdvertisingAdvertising in the firearms industry can be traced back to the late 1880's. These early ads would depict a woman hunting, alone in the woods stalking a deer with a large rifle or shotgun. Other advertisements would show a flirty young lady showing off her trap shooting skills at a skeet range. These ads showed that women could hunt and provide for their families . Ads of this sort ran until the mid to late 1980's. The nature of these advertisements shifted from depicting women in sport shooting and hunting, to marketing firearms to women for defensive purposes.
In 1988, the National Rifle Association began the "Refuse to be a Victim" campaign. This campaign was aimed mostly at women to help teach them how to prepare for, avoid, and act in potentially dangerous situations. These classes did not focus on firearms, nor was it a campaign to build gun sales to women. Also at this time, Smith and Wesson started running ads pertaining to a female audience. As mentioned, Advertising shifted in the firearms industry from sport shooting and hunting, to promoting firearms for self defense among women. Many of the gun commercials run today show a woman alone at home, forced to defend herself with a gun from an assailant Gun ownership and Gun ControlUnlike voting and property ownership, women have never been barred from owning firearms in America.
Women in America are likely to view owning a gun as a sign of liberty, and freedom. On the contrary, women in Europe are more likely to view owning a gun as violent or dangerous (handguns have been banned in the UK since 1997). The gender gap in gun ownership is closing very slowly. Men are still 3 times more likely to own a firearm than women are. There is estimated to be 270,000,000 guns in America. Gun ownership is at an all time low. 30% of households have guns in them now versus 50% in 1970. This can be attributed to an altime low of hunters, decreased crime rate, and growth of single person households. In the South, 38 percent of women own a gun, compared to 27 percent in the West or 21 percent in the Eastern U.S. Women are more likely to support gun control than men. 60% of women are in favor of strickter gun laws than men at 45%. There are a couple theories to why this is. Considering men are 3 times more likely to own a gun, either owning a gun makes you less in favor of strickter gun control, or individuals that are more likely to purchase a gun do not support strickter laws. As we learned in class, women are also more likely to be politically liberal, and liberals are more likely to support strict gun control. |
The image directly above is an analysis of the women that participated in the Million Mon March in 2003. The Million Mom March is partnered with the Brady Campaign and each year marches on Washington D.C. to protest for tighter gun control legislation (.