Recently the Detroit News carried an article about women who carry more than credit cards in their purses.

One woman stated, “The first time I shot a gun was in February. I was a practicing at a firing range and I felt empowered when I held it in my hand and fired.”

“In that instant, I knew carrying a gun was something I wanted to do. I decided to get a personal weapon because of all the craziness going on today. My mother has been armed for many years and because of the times, it’s more of a necessity.”

So what are the statistics for concealed carry permits in Seattle and vicinity? By gender, age, etc. We aim to get those statistics and if you have some statistics, please e-mail them to us:

Between 1988 and 1996, gun ownership by women nationwide skyrocketed by over 70 percent. January 1996 data from the Washington State Department of Licensing Firearms Unit show that 18.6 percent of all concealed-handgun permit holders (past and present) in Washington are women. That’s 118,728 pistol-packing moms, daughters and grandmas from Seattle to Spokane.

According to John Lott, the longer “shall issue” laws (such as Washington’s concealed carry law that requires a permit to issue within thirty days) are in place in a state, the more effective they are. In the period studied, for every five years a shall-issue law was in place, murder rates dropped by at least 15 percent, robberies by 11 percent and rapes by 9 percent. The benefits of concealed-carry laws for women are especially striking. According to Lott’s research, one additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about three to four times more than one additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.

Recent announcement about threat to ports that may indicate ports in Tacoma and Seattle are vulnerable to attack:(January 9, Houston Chronicle) National Study doubts ports’ security. The Coast Guard lacks the resources to meet its own security standards to protect against terrorist assaults at American ports, even as the nation is to dramatically expand imports of liquefied natural gas, the Government Accountability Office has found. The GAO, in a report made public Wednesday, noted that while U.S. intelligence officials know of no specific threat to American ports, captured terrorist training manuals have cited seaports as potential targets. And terrorism trainees are instructed to try to obtain surveillance information on ports for use in a possible attack.

However, “despite considerable efforts to protect ports and the energy traffic in them, the level of protection is not where the Coast Guard believes it should be,” the report said. “At some ports, Coast Guard units are not meeting their own levels of required security activities.” Ports are inherently vulnerable, the report said, because they are often sprawling facilities, close to major urban centers like Houston, and with access by both land and sea. Ships are likewise targets, since they travel along known routes, often through waters that do not allow room to maneuver away from potential threats, the report noted. Among its recommendations, the GAO urged the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Coast Guard, to develop a national plan to balance the need to meet its new LNG security burdens while also handling all of its existing security responsibilities.

Wouldn’t we be safer if more people took advantage of their gun rights?

According to LAUREL S. BARTON, a recent guest columnist in the Seattle PI, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ quoted the figure of 550 violent firearms crimes in 2005. Nickels’ is one of the mayors around the country that thinks we need more common sense in our gun laws. In other words, Nickels wants more gun control while Seattle refuses to cooperate with the federal government in getting illegal aliens out of the city (See story on Seattle’s Sanctuary law).

Ms. Barton goes on to say:

Most people will be horrified and will fail to ask the crucial, underlying question: How many of those guns were purchased legally? After all, laws will affect guns legally acquired, not those from secondary sources. The answer: 15 percent of guns used in crimes are legally obtained. That leaves 85 percent unaffected by changes to gun control laws.

The number of crimes prevented by firearms based on incidents reported to the police nationwide is roughly 64,615 yearly; the estimate can jump as high as 2.45 million if one factors in unreported cases. Compare those numbers to 30,000 gun-related deaths yearly and one can see the difference is, at the very least, 34,000 people saved by guns.

Many gun control advocates are pressuring the legislature to amend the Washington State statute that prohibits local governments from passing local restrictions, thus creating a confusing patchwork of local laws:

RCW 9.41.290
State preemption.

The state of Washington hereby fully occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation within the boundaries of the state, including the registration, licensing, possession, purchase, sale, acquisition, transfer, discharge, and transportation of firearms, or any other element relating to firearms or parts thereof, including ammunition and reloader components. Cities, towns, and counties or other municipalities may enact only those laws and ordinances relating to firearms that are specifically authorized by state law, as in RCW 9.41.300, and are consistent with this chapter. Such local ordinances shall have the same penalty as provided for by state law. Local laws and ordinances that are inconsistent with, more restrictive than, or exceed the requirements of state law shall not be enacted and are preempted and repealed, regardless of the nature of the code, charter, or home rule status of such city, town, county, or municipality.

See Washington Cities Enact Illegal Gun Laws

In Cook County, Illinois the laws may change every time you cross a city line (Illinois is one of the few states that does not allow any concealed carry). Such patchwork laws would pretty much kill Washington State’s statutory provisions allowing concealed carry (with a permit). The Washington State Constitution clearly (and unequivocally) identifies the right to bear arms as an individual right. By the way, the Founders of the Republic drafted the Bill of Rights very clearly. But some people think the U.S. Constitution is written in tea leaves and question what the meaning of “is” is!

According to the Detroit News, Americans own more than 200 million firearms, more than 60 million of which are handguns (National Institute of Justice statistics):

“Figures vary widely about the gender breakdown of ownership, but federal statistics claim 9 percent of women own guns.”

Brian Anse Patrick, a professor at the University of Toledo who studies gun culture, has observed that as concealed carry permits are becoming available due to laws that are rapidly changing in may states the issue of comcealed carry has become mainstream and more women are carrying:

“Before the CCW laws were liberalized, the people getting trained traditionally in gun culture were the old white guys,” Patrick said. “But after (2001) women said, ‘I am a woman and at risk and it’s a pretty sensible thing to do.‘”

There are many local ranges in Seattle-Tacoma area where men and women can learn about the laws and the mecanics of concealed carry, including shooting schools. We have many links at the Link Page herein.

“Few women feel comfortable with a guy showing them how to shoot,” Sullivan said. “A lot of the women come and become better shooters than their husbands. Others want to defend themselves.”

Some of the classes are just for women only because some women have never been around a gun and feel more comfortable learning in a group with other women.

In Colorado, a woman named Jeanne Assam, was thrown right into the path of a mad-dog killer:

Amid deafening cracks of gunfire, smoke-spewing canisters and the flight of thousands of New Life Church members, Jeanne Assam said she suddenly saw the hallways clear and a gunman come through the door.

“I took cover. I identified myself. I engaged him. I took him down,” the 42-year-old former law officer and volunteer church security guard said Monday at a news conference in the Colorado Springs police station.

Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

See also Michelle Malkin “Feminization of Gun Debate.”

“Generally a lot of women are out alone at night and they just want to feel like they have that level of protection. There are also a lot of single moms who feel it is important to protect their family and their kids in that regard.”

You may not only save your own life by preparing ahead but you could save a port facility from exploding in a blaze of liquefied natural gas! Many people tell me that they will use deadly force if they have to but seem to expect that they will get some advance notification of when the time has arrived. The time to get your concealed carry license is now. If you are a woman or man that has questions, comments or additional information, including statistics pertaining to concealed carry permits issued in the Seattle-Tacoma area you should send us an e-mail at knapp.m@comcast.net.