Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Ross A Wantland" <>]

Hey y'all,
  Here at the University of Illinois at Urbana, we're having a bit of an 
ongoing debate between a particularly fiesty and disrespectful conservative 
publication (surprise: primarily white straight economically privileged men!) 
who have been raffling off guns to promote the US 2nd Amendment (Right to 
bear arms). One of their popular mantras now is that guns decrease rape, 
especially concealed carry gun laws. >From my understanding of the dynamics 
of sexual violence, I believe this may be problematic. My particular concern 
is that these students are harassing several of my peer facilitators who are 
active in other progressive organizations (I call them feminist, the 
conservative paper calls them "liberal brainwashing") As an instructor at 
least partially responsible for "brainwashing" my students, I feel like I 
need to provide them with some resources, but I don't have the data to back 
up the notion that giving everyone a gun will decrease rape. Can anyone help 
me out?
 
Thanks, and keep struggling for peace!
Ross
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>Here at the University of Illinois at Urbana, we're having a bit of an 
>>ongoing debate between a particularly fiesty and disrespectful 
>>conservative publication (surprise: primarily white straight >economically 
>privileged men!) who have been raffling off guns to promote >the US 2nd 
>Amendment (Right to bear arms). One of their popular mantras >now is that 
>guns decrease rape, especially concealed carry gun laws. >From my 
>understanding of the dynamics of sexual violence, I believe this >may be 
>problematic. My particular concern is that these students are >harassing 
>several of my peer facilitators who are active in other >progressive 
>organizations (I call them feminist, the conservative paper >calls them 
>"liberal brainwashing") As an instructor at least partially >responsible for 
>"brainwashing" my students, I feel like I need to >provide them with some 
>resources, but I don't have the data to back up >the notion that giving 
>everyone a gun will decrease rape. Can anyone >help me out?

Ross, I'm a progressive, leftist, feminist who has spent over a decade
working
against sexual violence. I've got good news and bad news for you.

The good news is that you have an opportunity to really mess with UIUC's
chapter of Hitler Youth and their pointy little heads. And you can do it
without compromising your anti-violence principles in the slightest.

The bad news is that you are going to have to come to grips with some
uncomfortable facts and alter your tactics accordingly.

Here's the rub:

They're partially right. Firearms are the single most effective means an
individual
can use to stop a violent crime. We've had a fair amount of research on the
subject from Wright and Rossi in the 1970s on. They aren't "43 times more
likely to kill you or a loved one". They won't "be taken away and used
against
you". Liberalized concealed carry laws don't cause an increase in the
violent
crime or suicide rate. The only argument is whether Lott's statistical
methods
overstate the degree to which they decrease the overall rate of violent
crime.

The problem is that self defense and armed self defense in particular has
been
cast as a left-right issue. And we progressives allowed it to be and allowed

ourselves to get stuck on the wrong side of it.

My advice, and I've been through this a number of times, is don't let your
students
or yourself fall into their rhetorical trap. Say up front  to the
conservative group:

"Yes, guns are very good tools in their extremely limited role. They are
effective
when used correctly. But, like most tools they aren't very useful for
anything else.
All the guns in the world won't help you in situations where they aren't
appropriate.
And even when they are "It's not the dope on the gun, it's the dope behind
the gun."
Without the right attitude and mind-set they're worthless chunks of metal
and plastic.
We're interested in the much more important issues of education and mental
preparation that will let people make intelligent choices about goals. Then
they can
decide for themselves if a firearm is useful in achieving that goal."

Hit on the idea that fighting and shooting are very small parts of self
defense and
violence prevention. Acknowledge the situations where the particular tool is
useful but point out how rare those are in the universe of actual sexual
assaults.
The FBI and NIJ's material on sexual assault by acquaintances versus
strangers
is a good place to start. Then make it personal. If the student is a man ask
him
something like "Should your date should shoot you if she thinks you're
getting
out of line?" If it's a woman turn it around with "If your boyfriend wants
to have
sex and you don't are you prepared to kill him if he insists?" Go from there


Challenge them on something they probably haven't thought about - real
tactics.
"Is there some sort of carry rig that will let you wear attractive clothes
and
still have IMMEDIATE access to your gun in a car, in a bedroom, or at a
party? How about at the beach? Everyone knows [and it's true] that you
should
never EVER carry when you've been drinking. Does this mean women
have a choice between partying and being raped?"

You can even enlist the police in this. A lot of rank and file police are in
favor of
regular people owning guns. But police administrators are uniformly against
it.
And you live in a incredibly anti self defense state. It shouldn't be too
hard to get
a cop to come and show how easy it is to do a gun disarm on one of their
over-
confident representatives with an inert training gun.  It's unfair. It's not
realistic.
It's slightly dishonest. But it's an effective way of taking the wind out of
their sails
and setting the stage for a wider discussion of how to stop sexual violence.

Make a big point about how wonderful guns can be. Any armed woman at any
time can kill a man who she really wants to. "And that's a good thing". Play
up the power it gives WOMEN AS A CLASS against ALL MEN AS A CLASS.
More than half the time you'll see them backpedal furiously. Play up the
fact
that a gun takes away their white male privilege and makes them vulnerable
to women, and *shudder* Negroes. This plays on their real fears about class
and privilege.

Regards,
Todd