…is being driven by women:
Most women would not have thought to carry a gun even five years ago, said Andrea Durhal. When she became a National Rifle Association certified instructor eight years ago, her classes were mostly men. Recently, women have started to fill her classes.
It took a few years for women to get over a fear of guns and take responsibility for their protection, she said.
“We’re being victimized; we’re being raped. The crimes are getting higher and the police departments are less and less,” she said. “People are realizing now that they need to be their own security.”
There’s a very interesting graphic there. The highest percentages of women getting permits is Wayne County (Detroit) and Barry County (Grand Rapids). I would have thought that Genessee (Flint) and Oakland (Pontiac) Counties would be equally high, but they’re slightly less. I wonder why?
I can’t speak for Genessee County, but Oakland County is also home to a large number of moderately to extremely wealthy suburbs, which means that the number of “threatened” women per capita is lower than Wayne County, which (largely) lacks the large upper middle class buffer zones around Detroit that Oakland packs around Pontiac.
Easy answer to the distribution question. With the class and license the tab comes to $205 before the gun and ammo. Poor people, who generally live in places like Flint and Pontiac don’t necessarily have the cash to be legally armed.
Trent, here are two alternatives to pepper spray that I doubt would cause you any problems:
Hornet spray
Hair spray
A few years back, I worked as a delivery driver for the local Domino’s, and the area that I delivered to was a fairly rough one. We were specifically told that pepper spray was forbidden, and the manager even whined about my pocket knife.
So I bought a few cans of hornet spray and left them on my front seat while at work. The manager complained about it, but I told him that I was afraid of hornets, both the 6 legged type and the two legged. He didn’t say any more on that topic…
And yes, if someone had tried to rob me, I would have used it.
I’m a former police officer. Situations like this are always messy. While the railroad crossing incident does border on allowable use of deadly force, I’d try the photograph/videotape route first. Photograph & videotape the little darlings in action. Almost everyone carries a camera/video camera these days in their cell phone. It is comparatively easy to copy these from the phone and print pictures & burn videos to DID. Get names & addresses. Next take all this to a lawyer who will write very respectful letters to the parent(s) of the miscreants detailing the possible legal remedies if their daughter continues to participate in these attacks. Exposure to adult attention has an amazing effect on such activities. Even parents who really don’t care get interested real fast when they realise they may be financially liable. I suspect the girl gang would lose interest immediately because the consequences are temporary loss of independence. If not, the victims have documentation.