Want to Reduce Violent Crime Against Women? Get More of Them to Carry a Gun

[W]hile there is a kernel of truth behind the advice to remain passive when confronted by a criminal, the claim is highly misleading. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey shows that passive behavior appears slightly safer than all forms of active resistance combined – but that comparison lumps together very different actions.

For women, the most dangerous form of resistance is to fight with their fists, because doing so often triggers a violent physical reaction from the attacker. The next most dangerous choice is to run. Escaping is ideal when possible, but women generally run more slowly than men, and being tackled can produce serious injury. Other options such as using a baseball bat or a knife turn out not to be a lot better because women are at a disadvantage whenever they come into physical contact with a male attacker.

By contrast, the safest option for a woman confronted by a criminal is to have a gun. Women who rely on passive behavior are 2.5 times more likely to suffer serious injury than women who defend themselves with a firearm.

Criminals are almost always men, and when a man is attacking a woman there is on average a much larger strength difference than when a man is attacking another man. The presence of a gun represents a much bigger relative change in a woman’s ability to protect herself than it does for a man. Firearms act as a powerful equalizer between the sexes.

Murder rates fall when either men or women carry concealed handguns, but the reduction is especially large for women. Each additional woman with a concealed-carry permit lowers the female murder rate by roughly three to four times more than each additional male permit holder lowers the male murder rate. States that allowed women to carry concealed handguns on a nondiscretionary basis also experience about 25% fewer rapes than states that restrict or forbid concealed carry.

— John R. Lott Jr. in She Saved Her Life. 7-Eleven Fired Her