Armed & Female

To blatantly steal the title from one of my favorite authors on the subject of women's self defense, Paxton Quigley, I wanted to put some informative food for thought out there on the subject of women and weapons. Invariably, when I give lectures on self-defense and try to provide real life solutions that are workable most of the time I get someone in the audience who wants to trump the lecture by going straight to the issue of firearms.

My answer is sometimes also a bit shocking. I think firearms have their place in a woman's options for self-defense. The problem that I often see with people and firearms is that they tend to view a gun as an "end-all-be-all" and that merely owning it will keep them safe. I couldn't disagree more. Even if you are carrying armed the first 2 Rules of Fight Like A Girl (1. Be aware of your surroundings, 2. Go with people or stay with people) definitely still apply to any situation. Furthermore, while there are several ladies out there who are very capable with a firearm - don't ever mistake the idea that 12 hour NRA Basic Pistol Class to get your Concealed Weapons Permit is sufficient for training. While thse are excellent classes to familiarize yourself with basic operating functions of the firearm - they probably didn't take it to the level that you need to really defend yourself. Let me ask you a few questions:

1. Did they address the reactionary gap?
2. Did they explain that most shootings/ fights/ attacks take place in under 3 feet? And what to do if the person is face to face with you?
3. Did you shoot while laying on the ground?
4. Did you shoot in darkness or low light?
5. Did they address weapon retention?
6. Did you do any training with a simulated firearm and a realistic attacker?


These are important issues for a woman who is going to carry a firearm for defense. Please understand I am not belittling anyone in particular's training course. There are many good instructor's out there - but too often they see things from a man's perspective. If your at a training class ask the instructor if they might give you some instruction in techniques for the above questions. Most of these are pretty simple and you can pretty much Google them for how to videos. The key to all of this is that with any weapon or implement its important to train and familiarize yourself with what you may have to go through to save your life or another's.

Stay Safe!