Brits aren’t known for their love of firearms. In fact, we tend to hate them. When it comes to American gun culture, the majority of us look on with a mixture of horror and confusion when we see a Second Amendment activist walking through an airport with a rifle strapped to them. To many of us, it all seems so vulgar.
But in the wilderness of West Virginia, I recently found myself learning how to shoot an AR-15 alongside friends. There’s an exception to every rule, and I am apparently the exception to the rule that all Brits hate guns. Guns transcend the lines of nationality and gender.
One of my colonial friends in the wilderness troupe was a woman. Although rates of female firearm ownership in the United States are on the rise, there’s a gender gap in gun ownership. A recently released Harvard/Northeastern survey found that, while a third of men described themselves as gun owners, only 12 percent of women did. Like their cousins across the Atlantic, American women simply don’t support gun rights as much as men.
Is their skepticism warranted? It’s partially the result of a gun culture that emphasizes masculinity. It’s also the result of a failure to articulate the argument that lower rates of female firearm ownership and so-called “common sense” gun control measures are hurting women.
by Daniel Pryor
