Product desciption
Blown Away Caitlin Kelly by Caitlin Kelly 9780743464185, 0743464184 instant download after payment.
Looks at guns and American women drawing on interviews--with men, women, and girls of all ages and ethnic backgrounds--to explore the issue of the right to bear arms and gun control in the United States.
A book
about guns in America that doesn't take sides? A book about women and
guns that avoids all the theoretical debates about what women "should"
feel? Journalist Kelly starts out with some bold confessions instead:
that she's been the victim of crime several times, and that she's loved
learning to use guns and found it very empowering but doesn't own one
herself because she's unwilling to shoulder "the social responsibility
of keeping a firearm" in her home. While women do buy guns for sports or
hunting, most of the 11 million to 17 million female gun-owners in
America are looking for protection, says Kelly. According to the author,
three-quarters of all women in America will be crime victims at some
point in their lives; since most women are smaller and physically weaker
than their assailants, Kelly believes "a gun... is the only weapon that
truly levels the field in a life-threatening confrontation." Guns may
make women feel safer, the author acknowledges, but do they really
protect? While many women want guns to intimidate and don't ever plan to
fire to kill, women who do shoot their attackers may face long jail
sentences. While Kelly's prose is peppered with shocking statistics from
both sides of the debate, it's her interviews with improbable women gun
ownersdelicately coifed elderly ladies, preppy Mount Holyoke College
students, a big-game hunting former Miss Mississippithat truly
fascinate. Kelly offers no conclusions, just a list of sensible
recommendations that anyone from either side could support: addressing
violence against women, making women's safety a public priority and
taking measures to reinforce responsible gun ownership.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From BooklistGuns
are a polarizing subject in America, but as journalist Kelly observes,
"Men and women alike are often deeply ambivalent about a woman who owns a
gun and knows how to use it." Curious about women gun owners (17
million and counting), cognizant of the appallingly high number of women
who are victims of violent crimes, and certain that this line of
inquiry would yield fresh insights into the impact guns have on our
personal lives and society at large, Kelly set out to chronicle the
history of American gun women. She begins by establishing a historical
context, then moves on to revealing conversations with diverse women gun
owners (enthusiastic and pragmatic), women gun-control activists, women
who have survived violent assaults, and women who have used guns to
protect themselves. Kelly also astutely assesses pop-culture depictions
of gun-toting women; contrasts racial, class, and generational
differences in attitudes toward armed women; and discusses the risks to
children. Providing both practical information and useful commentary,
Kelly turns in a rough-hewn yet groundbreaking and invaluable analysis.Donna Seaman
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