You may find that petty arguments don't hold up well here. It's a given that women have different preferences and needs. It is also true that some women are outstanding shooters.
Well you get your opinion and I get mine.
Help me out here, what do you consider "petty argument" about suggesting that a firearm cannot be excluded (or included) from consideration for any individual without knowing some specific information about the person?
Since you quoted part of my post, let's look at it.
The "Mom" in the question could very likely be of advanced age, have arthritus tyat makes manipulation a serious issue, have some of the many other little problems that come with age. All of those things have a large impact on handgun selection.
She could just as likely be a fit, active woman in her 40's with few physical limitations.
Choosing the right firearm involves a lot of factors, ruling out a 686 size gun based only on the sex of the unknown to us potential owner seems silly to me.
Firearm experience is also unknown to me and that really matters too.
I'm not trying to spoil your interweb fun, but that's really how I see it.
If you consider this a petty argument then we differ quite a bit in our outlook on the topic. That's allowed. It's not an argument (petty or otherwise), it's a discussion and discussions become pretty boring when everybody thinks the same thing.
I know quite a few women who shoot and their "preferences and needs" as you write, differ as much among themselves as they do between men and women. Your mileage, as they say, may be quite different.
J
