cambeul41
Member
I teach college level English in Detroit. A student wrote an essay in which she supported the idea of women being armed for personal defense; so, when I returned her paper today, I also gave her a short list of pro-gun and Second Amendment web sites and a copy of Oleg’s “Two ways…” poster of Betty.
When I asked her in which of the two ways a woman should respond to being attacked, she pointed at the cowering, terrified Betty. I rephrased my question. “How would her husband or boy friend want her to respond to being attacked?” She again pointed to the terrified Betty.
I am sure that she could tell from my expression that I thought that her response was wrong. “But why,” she asked,” “would her husband or boyfriend want her to point a gun at him?”
“Why would he give her cause to fear him? If he were not there to protect her, what would he want her to do if attacked?”
This time she pointed to the pistol- using Betty. That is progress, I suppose, but I am still bothered by the fact that a student who had just received a good grade on a pro-2A essay would indicate that the “correct” way to react to an attack is to cower from it.
Part of the problem might be a society in which husbands, boyfriends, and babies’ daddies are frequently the attackers. (I did have a student once say, “No man had better beat me like that – unless we are married!”) And part of the problem may be that because “teacher types” cannot be seen as believing in the defensive use of guns.
I have a file on my hard drive labeled “CCW CD” which is a continuously evolving collection of essays and pictures that I transfer to CDs to give to people who are curious or have expressed a need to defend themselves. This young lady will get a copy. Although she is still too young to carry, she is not too young to inform and not too young to have a long gun in the home.
When I asked her in which of the two ways a woman should respond to being attacked, she pointed at the cowering, terrified Betty. I rephrased my question. “How would her husband or boy friend want her to respond to being attacked?” She again pointed to the terrified Betty.
I am sure that she could tell from my expression that I thought that her response was wrong. “But why,” she asked,” “would her husband or boyfriend want her to point a gun at him?”
“Why would he give her cause to fear him? If he were not there to protect her, what would he want her to do if attacked?”
This time she pointed to the pistol- using Betty. That is progress, I suppose, but I am still bothered by the fact that a student who had just received a good grade on a pro-2A essay would indicate that the “correct” way to react to an attack is to cower from it.
Part of the problem might be a society in which husbands, boyfriends, and babies’ daddies are frequently the attackers. (I did have a student once say, “No man had better beat me like that – unless we are married!”) And part of the problem may be that because “teacher types” cannot be seen as believing in the defensive use of guns.
I have a file on my hard drive labeled “CCW CD” which is a continuously evolving collection of essays and pictures that I transfer to CDs to give to people who are curious or have expressed a need to defend themselves. This young lady will get a copy. Although she is still too young to carry, she is not too young to inform and not too young to have a long gun in the home.
